Fun Trivia » Animals » Fish » Sharks

As its name suggests, the Greenland shark's range is mainly in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Its slow metabolism allows it to live in the cold waters in these areas. Difficulty: Average.

 

North Pacific and Arctic Oceans, South Pacific and Arctic Oceans, Mainly around Greenland and Antarctica

The shortfin mako shark is the speed of the sea. It has been seen swimming at 37 miles an hour, and can leap up to 20 feet in the air. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Longfin mako shark, Fastfin mako shark, Slowfin mako shark

The great white fits most people's idea of a shark. They can grow up to six metres long and live in cool, tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate seas, where they feed on dolphins, seals, large fish and sea lions. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Silky shark, Thresher shark, Sand tiger shark

The lemon shark gives birth once yearly producing between four and seventeen pups. The pups stay in the shallow mangroves until reaching full maturity. It takes at least twelve years to reach maturity. Difficulty: Average.

 

sand tiger, thresher, dusky

The great white shark has between five and seven gills on each side of its head. Gills are structures used in respiration. They are used to extract oxygen from the water and to excrete carbon dioxide back into the water. Gills are generally made up of thin filaments of tissue or branches. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Spinal ridges, Rows of top teeth, Eyelids

Because of shark rodeos, the Caribbean reef shark has become the most watched shark in the world.
Dive shop operators who take divers out to partake in shark feeding run a shark rodeo.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

grey reef shark, dusky shark, bull shark

External egg development in sharks is known as 'oviparous', as the young sharks are born outside of the mother. Small to medium sized sharks, such as Port Jackson and leopard sharks use this method. Difficulty: Average.

 

Calves, Sharklings, Ermits

Some real species are basking, bull, hammerhead, mako, nurse, thresher, whale and white sharks. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Nurse sharks, Thresher sharks, Hammerhead sharks

There are approximately 500 species of sharks in the world, and about 80% of these are smaller than the average person. Difficulty: Hard.

 

9 1/2 - 10 feet, 5 1/2 - 12 feet, 12 1/2 - 17 feet

Shark skeletons are made of cartilage not bone so their fossil record is poor but not unknown. Early shark fossil records are based mostly on teeth and scales. However, whilst some of these fossil remnants are 480 million years old, the oldest complete shark fossil is only about 360 million years old. This means that the first sharks appeared around 200 million years before the first dinosaurs.

Due to the lack of fossil records, conventional scientific thinking documented that shark anatomy was believed to be a primitive condition in vertebrate evolution compared to all other fishes and land animals, which both had ossified (hardened with minerals) bony skeletons. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Soon after the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, Around 24 million years ago along with the first pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), Unknown: There are no fossil records

Also known as the big eye thresher, this shark is a harmless shark that can reach up to 11 feet in length. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Whale shark, Snaggletooth shark, Bramble shark

 

Orectolobus ornatus, Galeocerdo cuvier, Carcharhinus plumbeus

Although Greenland sharks can grow larger, most have been observed to be between eight and fifteen feet. They typically weigh up to 400 kilograms (880 pounds). Males are usually smaller than females. These sharks range in colour from light grey to dark brown, and have thickset and rounded snouts, small eyes, and small fins. The gills are also very small for a species as large as the Greenland shark. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Five to eight feet, Two to five feet, Fifteen to twenty feet

Shark babies are called pups. Some pups are grown inside of their mother, while others are hatched from an egg. Lemon sharks are one of the types of sharks that give birth to live pups. The mother will go to shallow water to give birth to her pups. The pups stay close to the shallow waters until they are grown. Swell shark pups hatch from eggs. The mother lays her eggs in a hard case, sometimes referred to as a mermaid's purse. Swell sharks lay up to five egg cases at a time. In about nine months the pups are born from the egg cases. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

kits, spawn, squall

Most fish have swim bladders that allows fish to stay at a certain level in the water without sinking. Fish do this by filling their swim bladders with gas that they use like air in a balloon. Sharks do not have this ability, so they must keep swimming to avoid sinking. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Tiger sharks, Rock sharks, All sharks

Hammerheads breed once a year and give birth to live young. Depending on the species, anywhere between twelve and forty pups can be born at one time. Like other sharks, baby hammerheads receive no parental care. They must fend for themselves from the moment of birth. Difficulty: Hard.

 

twice, three times, at least ten times

Named for the unusual shape of their heads, there are eight known species of hammerhead: the scalloped bonnethead, the smooth hammerhead, the Carolina hammerhead, the smalleye hammerhead, the scalloped hammerhead, the bonnethead, the scoophead and the great hammerhead. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Blue shark, Snaggletooth shark, Short-finned mako

Blue sharks prefer deep cool waters. They are known for migrating long distances, often following currents. Most schools are made up of the same sex and similar sized sharks. Difficulty: Hard.

 

spinner, nurse, leopard

Whale sharks prefer warm tropical waters where there's a plentiful food supply. They feed on krill, small fish & squid. One of the best places to swim with Whale sharks is Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Everywhere, In cold waters, In the arctic

Upon being born, a pup immediately flees its mother and siblings because it may be seen as prey to them. Although a great white will likely be at the top of the oceanic food chain throughout its entire life, a pup avoids predators bigger than itself - including other great whites - if it is comes anywhere close to completing its first year of life, an achievement not very many live up to.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Calves, Tadpoles, Goslings

The same species with the exception of minor local differences, the sand tiger shark and the grey nurse shark have another name as well. In South Africa, they go by the name ragged tooth shark. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Galapagos reef shark, grey reef shark, whitetip reef shark

Sharks attack fewer than 100 people a year, and probably less than 20 of these attacks are fatal. On the other hand, people kill over a hundred million sharks every year. Difficulty: Hard.

 

between 25 - 50, between 100 - 200, between 200 - 300

In 2015, in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, the paleontology world was shocked when a paper by Long and Burrow et al. revealed that an extinct shark, Gogoselachus lynbeazleyae, fossil found in Western Australia showed that the shark's skeleton contained both bone and cartilage. Further studies have shown that sharks probably evolved from ancestors with far more bone in the skeleton than present-day sharks.

Modern sharks have evolved with lighter cartilaginous skeletons to become swifter swimmers, escape predators and quickly catch their prey. This means that the cartilaginous skeleton is not a primitive precursor of the bony skeleton but quite the reverse - it is a positive evolutionary process.

Cartilage is flexible, durable and yet has half the density of bone. This facilitates speed through the water. The cartilage flexibility allows sharks to bend much more easily than bony fish. This elasticity is important giving them more speed as their tails can move faster to propel them through the water. Coupled with a body tapered at both ends (fusiform shape), skeletal flexibility and lightness some sharks have evolved into very fast swimmers, an essential trait in an animal that needs to swim faster than its prey. Difficulty: Hard.

 

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This shark still exists today and can be up to 250 cm long and can weigh 155 kg. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Mako shark, False mako shark, Sharpnosed shark

The tiger shark is an apex predator, and sometimes will eat inedible objects accidentally. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Great white shark, Mako shark , Pajama shark

The great hammerhead is a nomadic predator, but is still known for being the first species of shark to reach baited lines. Although they are travelers, they are often spotted near coral reefs. Scientists believe that the head is used to pin prey to the sea floor possibly to avoid injury to the shark. A popular prey for the great hammerhead is the stingray. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

goblin, horn, bignose

The scientific name for the Leopard shark is Triakis semifasciata.

The Whale shark's scientific name is Rhincodon typus.

The scientific name for the Tiger shark is Galeocerdo cuvier.

The Great White's scientific name is Carcharodon carcharius. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Carcharodon carcharius, Triakis semifasciata, Galeocerdo cuvier

The great white shark is classified as a mackerel shark. Some of the defining features of a mackerel shark are that it is large, partly warm-blooded, has a pointed snout and has an aggressive reputation. The great white shark is a fierce carnivorous shark with heterocercal caudal fins (the tail fins have a larger upper lobe than the lower lobe). They have tough skin that is covered with small, sharp, tooth-like scales. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Sawshark, Whale shark, Bramble shark

It is unknown why bronze whalers eat jellyfish, because jellyfish offer no nutritional value to the sharks whatsoever. Difficulty: Hard.

 

white-tip reef shark, scalloped hammerhead shark, sandbar shark

Sharks and rays have specialised placoid scales, which are called dermal denticles (dermal - skin, denticle - tooth). Denticles have the same structure as a tooth, which has three layers: an outer layer of enamel, dentine, and a pulp cavity. The rough denticles are arranged in a regular pattern to increase hydrodynamics. These denticles have projections that point backward, which also increases hydrodynamics. Unlike other types of scales, denticles do not get larger as the fish grows. Instead, the fish increases its scale production.

Difficulty: Easy.

 

Smooth: flattened scales to increase hydrodynamics, dismemberment, slicing

This extinct white shark probably reached lengths of up to 40 feet. There fossilized teeth are highly sought after by fossil shark teeth hunters. Fossilized teeth can reach up to 7" each. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Tiger shark, Hammerhead shark, Requiem shark

 

17-24 pups, 30-34 pups, 1-2 pups

In the study of Greenland sharks that was completed in 2016, scientists found that these sharks live a very long time. They also estimated that sharks must be about 150 years of age before they become capable of reproduction. This means that Greenland sharks that were born around the time of the US Civil war had just become mature enough to reproduce when the study was completed. Difficulty: Hard.

 

About 50 years, About 100 years, About 200 years

The basking shark eats plankton like the whale shark, and is also the second largest fish. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Great white shark, Thrasher shark, Lemon shark

Saw sharks are very unusual. Above their small mouths, they have a long, pointed appendage, used for digging in the sand to uncover shrimp or shellfish. The edges of this appendage are covered in sharp, spiny teeth. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Californian bullhead shark, Bramble shark, Ornate wobbegong

The sandtiger is a favorite of divers due to its ability to remain motionless. This shark surfaces for air and fills a swim bladder, which allows it to remain buoyant while motionless. It uses this techique to ambush fish. The sandtigers' strongest embryo feeds on the weaker pups and unfertilized eggs. Difficulty: Hard.

 

cookie cutter, porbeagle, tiger

Having a white underbelly and a darker dorsal area is called countershading. Generally, the great white shark has a grey dorsal area, but some have been known to have brown or blue shades as well. The countershading gives the great white shark a "mottled" look which makes it difficult to be spotted by his potential prey. The shark's outline is broken up by this countershading. When looking down at a great white shark, its darker dorsal area blends with the sea. Looking from below the shark, the white underbelly blends and a silhouette of the shark, against sunlight, is very minimal.

Difficulty: Hard.

 

Mix matching, Gradient shading, Silhouetting

These two sharks live in completely different habitats. The blacktip reef shark lives in very shallow, coastal, tropical water while the sixgill lives in deeper, temperate waters.
Color vision comes from the cones in the eye, and with no cones, the blacktip reef shark and the sixgill shark are colorblind.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

sand tiger shark& blacktip shark, great white shark & lemon shark, mako shark & bronze whaler shark

Shark teeth are comprised of enamel (calcium, phosphorus/protein complexes). Tooth shape is determined by the shark's diet.

Some species, like the great white shark, are born with many rows of sharp, pointed and serrated teeth in the lower jaw and strong, triangular-shaped teeth in the upper jaw. This enables the great white to cut large prey into smaller pieces to facilitate swallowing. These teeth are replaced every two weeks (approximately) and up to 40,000 can be lost over a shark's lifetime.

Close relatives of the great white are the bull shark and blue shark. Both have needle teeth that are long, sharp and pointed and are suited for grabbing and then holding tightly onto prey. This type of tooth is very useful for prey that have narrow bodies, such as smallish fish. Bull sharks typically feed in murky water with low visibility making it important for them to be able to hang onto their prey as soon as they seize it.

Nurse sharks, angel sharks, and other bottom-feeder sharks have densely-packed flattened teeth to enable them to feed on crabs, crustaceans, snails and other hard-shelled animals found on the sea bed.

Three species of sharks (basking, megamouth, and whale sharks) don't use their teeth at all (which are flat, only 5-6 millimetres (1/4 inch)long} because they are filter feeders eating tiny organisms like plankton. These sharks eat by swimming towards their prey with open mouths They then filter the water through their gills retaining the food inside their mouths. Their prey is then swallowed, not chewed, with no need for their teeth at all. Difficulty: Hard.

 

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The bramble shark is named after the thorn like dermal denticles that are scattered over the body of the shark. This shark reaches a length of about 13 feet. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Angel shark, Tiger shark, Modern mako shark