Sharks

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Sharks
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Great White Shark Information
TEETH TO SPARE If great white sharks had tooth
fairies, theyd be rich! A great white loses and
replaces thousands of its teeth during its
lifetime. Its upper jaw is lined with 26
front-row teeth its lower jaw has 24. Behind
these razor-sharp points are many rows of
replacement teeth. The spares move to the front
whenever the shark loses a tooth. At any one time
about one-third of a sharks teeth are in the
replacement stage. HEADS UP Great whites are the
only sharks that can hold their heads up out of
the water. This ability allows them to look for
potential prey at the surface. Great white sharks
usually attack from underneath, surprising their
unwary prey
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BOX OFFICE BULLY SPEEDY SWIMMERS
Great white sharks are superstars. Before the
Star Wars series, the 1975 movie Jaws was
Hollywoods biggest moneymaker. Jaws, about a
great white on the prowl, cost 8 million to film
but made 260 million in the U.S. Not bad for a
fish story! Great white sharks can sprint
through the water at speeds of 43 miles an hour
(69 kilometers an hour). Thats about 8.5 times
as fast as the top Olympic swimmer. Scientists on
the California coast tracked one shark as it swam
all the way to Hawaii2,400 miles (3,862
kilometers)in only 40 days!
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SPEEDY SWIMMERS HOT ON THE TRAIL
Great white sharks can sprint through the water
at speeds of 43 miles an hour (69 kilometers an
hour). Thats about 8.5 times as fast as the top
Olympic swimmer. Scientists on the California
coast tracked one shark as it swam all the way to
Hawaii2,400 miles (3,862 kilometers)in only 40
days! Unlike most fish, great white sharks
bodies are warmer than their surroundings. The
sharks bodies can be as much as 27.3F (15.17C)
warmer than the water the fish swim in. A higher
temperature helps the great white shark swim
faster and digest its food more efficiently. Very
useful for an animal thats always on the go!
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BIG MAMA SNEAK ATTACK
A pregnant female great white shark can carry as
many as 14 babies in her belly. At birth, a
5-foot-long (1.52-meter), 60-pound (22-kilogram)
pup looks and acts like a miniature adult. Great
whites average between 10 and 15 feet (3 and 4.6
meters) long. Females tend to be bigger than
males. The longest confirmed great white shark
measured 19.5 feet (5.9 meters). Male or female,
theyre the worlds largest meat-eating fish. A
great white shark isnt all white. A pale belly
and dark charcoal-gray back help the shark avoid
detection by prey. Viewed from above, the sharks
dark-colored back blends with the murky seafloor.
From below, the sharks belly matches the
light-colored surface. Sneaky!
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NOT ON THE REGULAR MENU
Man-eaters? Maybe not. Some scientists believe
that great white sharks are better described as
man-biters. In more than half of all known
great white attacks on swimmers, sharks have
taken only a single bite before swimming away.
Scientists speculate that perhaps people just
dont taste as good as seals or sea lions!  
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Confirmed Unprovoked Shark Attacks

• Florida 520
• Hawaii 104
• California 89
• South Carolina 52
• North Carolina 30
• Texas 32
• Oregon 18
• Mississippi 1
• Total in USA from 1670-2005 902

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What is a Shark?

• Sharks are amazing fish that have been around
  since long before the dinosaurs existed. They
  live in waters all over the world, in every
  ocean, and even in some rivers and lakes.
  Unlike bony fish, sharks have no bones their
  skeleton is made of cartilage, which is a tough,
  fibrous substance, not nearly as hard as bone.
  Sharks also have no swim bladder (unlike bony
  fish).

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The Biggest Shark

• The biggest shark is the whale shark (Rhincodon
  or Rhiniodon typus), which can be up to 50 feet
  (15 m) long. It is a filter feeder and sieves
  enormous amounts of plankton to eat through its
  gills as it swims. It is also the biggest fish.
  The second biggest fish and shark is the basking
  shark (Cetorhinus maximus) which is about 40 feet
  (12.3 m) long and is another filter feeder. The
  biggest meat-eating sharks are the Greenland
  shark and the Great white shark (Carcharodon
  carcharias) which grow to be up to 21 feet (6.4
  m) long. Great whites up to 37 feet (11.3 m) long
  have been reported, but not verified.

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SCARIEST SHARK EVER (NOW EXTINCT)

• The largest shark known was the Megalodon
  (Carcharodon or Carcharocles megalodon) it is
  now extinct. It was an ancient, meat-eating shark
  that lived between 25 million and 1.6 million
  years ago. It was up to 40 feet (12 m) long and
  its teeth were each the size of a person's hand!

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Smallest Sharks

• Dwarf Lanternfish (Etmopterus perryi), which is
  about 7 1/2 to 8 inches (19 - 20 cm) long for
  fully-grown females and 6 to 7 inches (16 - 17.5
  cm) long for adult males
• Spined pygmy shark (Squaliolus laticaudus), which
  is about 8 inches (21 cm) long for fully-grown
  females and 7 inches (18 cm) long for males
• Pygmy ribbontail catshark (Eridacnis radcliffei)
  , which is about 6 to 7 inches (15 - 16 cm) long
  for fully-grown females and 7 to 7 1/2 inches (18
  - 19 cm) long for males.

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MOST DANGEROUS

• The oceanic white-tipped sharks are the most
  fearless predators. Jacques-Yves Cousteau says
  that it is "the only species of shark that is
  never frightened by the approach of a diver, and
  they are the most dangerous of all sharks."

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FASTEST

• The fastest swimming sharks are the mako sharks
  and blue sharks, which can even leap out of the
  water. They are also among the fastest fish.
  Estimates of their speed varies some say that
  they can swim at about 60 miles per hour (97
  kph), while more conservative estimates are about
  22 mph (35 kph). There hasn't been enough
  observation of their speeds to have a definitive
  answer.

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BIGGEST MOUTH

• The whale shark has the biggest mouth among
  sharks.

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LONGEST TAIL

• The thresher sharks have the longest tail among
  sharks the upper lobe of their tails are about
  the same length as their bodies.

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STRONGEST SHARK BITE

• The strongest shark bite belongs to the dusky
  shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) its jaws have been
  measured to exert 132 pounds (60 kg) of force per
  tooth (James Snodgrass and Perry Gilbert, 1965).

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MOST COMMON SHARK

• The piked dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) is
  very abundant, especially in the North Atlantic
  Ocean. It is a small shark, about 63 inches (1.6
  m) long.

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LARGEST EGGS

• The whale shark was long thought to be oviparous
  (an egg 14 inches (36 cm) long was found in the
  Gulf of Mexico in 1953 this would be the largest
  egg in the world). Recently, pregnant females
  have been found containing hundreds of pups.
  Whale sharks are viviparous, giving birth to live
  young. Newborns are over 2 feet (60 cm) long.

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DEEPEST DIVER

• The Portuguese shark dives down over 9,000 feet
  (2750 m). This is over 1.5 miles.

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LONGEST MIGRATION

• The Blue shark had been known to migrate from
  1,200-1,700 miles (2000-3000 km) in a seasonal
  journey from New York state in the USA to Brazil.
  

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LARGEST LITTER

• One Blue shark was found with 135 pups in her
  uterus.