Shark Awareness Day

1. There are over 500 species of sharks swimming in the oceans. The smallest species is the Dwarf Lantern Shark, which grows to only about 20cm long. The largest species is the Whale Shark, which grows to about 10 metres long, although the largest recorded Whale Shark was 18.8 metres long!

2. Over one third of sharks are endangered, many of which are at serious risk of extinction. The main causes of this are over fishing, including accidentally catching sharks amongst other fish, habitat loss, pollution of the ocean and climate change. Humans are much more of a danger to sharks, than sharks are to humans!

3. Sharks are apex predators, which mean they have have very few natural enemies. They have a very important role in marine food webs and are vital for ocean ecosystems.

4. Sharks are a type of fish. This means they can breathe underwater, which they do through gills, that are just behind their head. Most sharks have to keep moving so they can absorb oxygen. This means they can never stay still and always have to keep swimming!

5. Many fish are ‘bony fish’ and their skeletons are made of bone. However, some fish such as sharks, rays and skates have flexible skeletons made of cartilage instead. This makes them lighter and more flexible in the water and allows them to move faster.

6. Sharks have lots of rows of teeth, which means when they loose a tooth another one just moves forward to replace it. Because they loose and replace their teeth constantly, they can go through thousands of teeth over their lifetime.

7. Sharks like to eat many things, including fish, seals, sea lions and even other sharks. Sharks have incredible senses to help them find prey. They can hear movements in the water from miles away and have excellent eye sight too. Some species of shark, such as a Great White shark can smell a drop of blood from miles away too, but not all shark species have such an amazing sense of smell.

8. Most baby sharks are born live, although some shark species do lay eggs. When a baby shark, which is called a pup, is born it has to swim really fast away from its mother because otherwise it might be eaten by her! If sharks survive their first year most species live for around 20 or 30 years, but some are known to live for much longer.

9. Some species of shark like to be alone while others like to be in groups or spend at least some time with other sharks. A group of sharks is called a shiver of sharks! If they are eating they can be called a frenzy of sharks. And also as they are fish, some people would just called them a school of sharks, like a school of fish.

10. Sharks are known to have been around for about 450 million years! They were swimming the oceans during the Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs ruled the world.