Super Shark By: Talvin
Table of Contents Introduction. 1 Super Species. 2 Mysterious Megalodon 4 What s a sharks body like?... 6 What s a shark body like?... 8 Supreme Scales. 10 It s a sharks life. 12
Glossary.. 14
Introduction Well a shark is one of the fiercest creatures in the ocean. All though you may think that all sharks are deadly and dangerous you re wrong the whale shark is actually a gentle giant. Sharks are fierce predators of the ocean that have been alive since the time of the dinosaurs. So there you go here are some more facts about sharks. A shark swimming above the ocean floor
Super species Thresher sharks are subtropical sharks that swim near the surface. The only shark alive today to have six gills is the A hammerhead shark six gilled shark. Great White Sharks can grow up to 21 feet (6.1 meters) long that s as long as 21 rulers Great white shark put tip to tip! Cookie cutter sharks get there name from the marks they leave that looks like the victim got a cookie cutter ripped out of him, her or it. The nurse shark can pump water over its gills. Half the length of a thresher shark is its tail. No thresher shark that we know of has ever attacked a human. Most short fin Mako sharks are found (live) in tropical and warm temperate waters. 2
Nurse sharks mainly eat fish, crabs, shrimp, and lobsters. Great White sharks are one of the deadliest sharks ever. Bull sharks are one of the few sharks that can live in fresh water. Hammerhead sharks are mostly found in warm temperate and shallow tropical waters. Fatal Facts The basking shark was once hunted just for the 250 gallons of oil in its bladder. Great white shark swimming 3
Mysterious Megalodon The largest shark that ever lived is called the Megalodon. The Megalodons tooth is about two times as big as a 6 paper. The Megolodons jaw is about 10 long. The Megalodon could have weighed 50 tons (45 metric tons) that s as much as three full grown rhinos!! Megalodon compared to great white average 3 rd grade classroom! Megaladons in the ocean. Scientists have found at least two Megalodons on every continent except for Antarctica. One of the Megalodons main prey is the sperm whale. The Megalodons head is 20 long. That s as long as an where the biggest creatures Fatal Facts The Megalodon lived 2 to 17 million years ago. 4
Megalodon means mega tooth which comes from the size of their tooth. Scientists think that the Megalodons are extinct but from major tracking researchers have found a live Megalodon. Megalodons like most sharks where Carnivores (meat eaters.). Megalodons were beastly and deadly creatures. Megalodons tooth compared to great white shark tooth 5
What s a Sharks Body Like? A shark s body is very unique. A shark s heart has four chambers which are close to the gills. All sharks have five different fins the cuadual fin, the pectoral fin, the first dorsal fin, second dorsal fin, and the pelvic fin. Sharks have many different rows of teeth so if the first row wares out the row behind it will take its place. The first dorsal fin is located on the top of the shark and is aerodynamic which makes it so the shark can gain more speed. The pectoral fin is located on the side of the shark and is used to help steer the shark. The cuadual fin is located on the end of the shark s tail and is used to gain speed. The second dorsal fin is located on the tail and is used as a Sharks anatomy weapon on the shark. The pelvic fin is located on the bottom of the shark and is used to help gain speed from the bottom. A shark has no bones except for the spine and the rib but the rest of the shark is cartilage. Sharks brain is about the size of a person s head or a dog s head (depending on the size of the shark). Sharks heart is Fatal Facts A sharks tongue is covered in laired pads of cartilage 6
located very close to the gills so they can get blood to the head fast. Sharks gills are what make a shark breath because they are connected to the gills which have a filtering system that suck in the oxygen and lets out the water back through the gills. Figure 1Great white sharks anatomy 7
What is a Sharks Habitat? Well as we all know a shark s habitat is in the ocean BUT a shark can live in many different oceans for instance the Great White Shark can live from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Lots of sharks like the black tip reef shark, the coral shark, and the nursing shark all live in the coral reef. Sharks live all over the world even by Greenland!! The most common places for sharks to live are Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Coral reef The coral reef is another one of the most common places for a shark to live. About one quarter of species of sharks live in the coral reef. The reason why a lot of species of shark live in the coral reef is because of all of the fish. The coral reef is home to many different sharks like I said in the paragraph above but here are some more. The white tip reef shark and the sand shark. Fatal Facts Sharks live in all oceans except for the Arctic Ocean. 8
Some sharks like the goblin shark lives at least 1,000 feet deep down. The six gilled shark lives 23,000 feet under the sea. Some other sharks like the goblin and six gilled shark. There you have it some facts about a shark s habitat. Overview of a coral reef 9
Supreme Scales Covering a sharks body are thousands of tooth like scales. Sharks scales overlap each other. Dried shark skin is called chagrin. Placoid scales make a sharks skin rough. Sharks scales may seem flat but they re are all overlapped. Sharks scales are very rough. Sharks scales are mostly gray and white but the goblin sharks scales ore Sharks scales slightly green. Some shark scales are eventually worn out and fall off. Sharks scales are rougher than sand paper. Close up of shark s scales 10
Sharks scales are made out of the same thing as the inside of your nose (cartilage). Sharks scales are so tiny that they look like plain gray skin on a shark. Sharks scales are basically natures Kevlar. Fatal Facts Sharks scales were once used as sand paper. 11
It s a Sharks Life All sharks except for the Bamboo shark must move to live. Some sharks that eat meat will swim up under their prey and jump up with their prey in their mouth. Sharks mostly avoid sperm whales as a predator. Shark must move even when sleeping. The shark s main prey, the seal Fatal Facts If a shark stops moving it will die Sharks must always be aware of their surroundings because they never know what predators might be lurking around. Sharks eat around 578 pounds of blubber (fat) every day. Sharks main prey is seals. Some sharks will actually attack baby sperm whales. Sharks mostly eat the blubber from seals not the skin. Sharks mostly don t have to avoid predators but they still have to watch out. Sharks most feared predators are One of the shark s main predators, the sperm whale 12
Sperm whales. There you go a whole bunch if facts about sharks. 13
Glossary Cartilage- elastic animal tissue attached to bones near the joints Chagrin- the dried skin of a shark Subtropical- bordering on the tropics; nearly tropical Coral reef- a marine ridge or reef consisting of coral and other organic material consolidated into limestone Pectoral Fin- either a pair of fins in fishes usually just behind a i.p.a line with the gills, corresponding to the forelimb of higher vertebrates Pelvic fin- a pair of fins on a fish s body, usually below the pectoral fin Placoid- small tooth like scales that cover a shark s body Thresher- any of a large genus of large sharks having long curved tails with which they supposedly beat the water to round up small fish on which they feed Victim- someone who suffers from illness or action 14