Sharks: The Animal Answer Guide

Images

A Wobbegong, or carpet shark. The skin flaps around the mouth and variable body colors add to its camouflage as it lies on the bottom. Photo courtesy of Jeff Rotman, www.jeffrotman.com Sand Tigers feed on slippery prey such as fishes and squid. Teeth in both jaws are long, slender, and sharp, the ideal type for stabbing and holding such food items. Photo courtesy of Jeff Rotman, www.jeffrotman.com A Puffadder Shyshark, Haploblepharus edwardsii, at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. The mottled color pattern of the body would make this shark blend well into the natural dark, algae-covered bottom on which it is normally found. The object above the shark between the second dorsal fin and tail is its egg case, or mermaid ’s purse. Photo by Gene Helfman A Tiger Shark moves across shallow sand flats in the Bahamas. Notice the faint vertical bars on the shark’s back, markings that may help camouflage it in shallow water and flickering sunlight. These markings fade as Tiger Sharks grow. The shark is being followed closely by a remora, or sharksucker, swimming beneath it. Photo by Albert Kok, Wikimedia Commons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /File:Tigershark3.jpg An Oceanic Whitetip Shark accompanied by a Pilot Fish. The white tips of the shark’s fins are thought to help conceal the rest of the body as the shark approaches prey. Whitetips are open-water sharks that seldom come into shallow water, fortunately . They have been implicated in a number of attacks on victims of offshore airplane crashes and boat sinkings. Photo by Austin Gallagher, http: //austingallagher.com; used with permission Whale Sharks are noted for their distinctive white spots and wavy lines on a dark background, color patterns eerily similar to the bark paintings of Aboriginal Australians. This 7-m-plus (22-ft) Whale Shark was being filmed at Ningaloo Reef, West Australia, the first place Whale Sharks were studied in any detail. Photo courtesy of Jeff Rotman, www.jeffrotman.com The Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray is a relatively small (35 cm, or 14 in, wide) inhabitant of shallow waters in the tropical western Pacific. Its small size and color make it popular in the aquarium trade, but individuals seldom live for long in captivity. Photo by Jens Petersen, Wikimedia Commons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taeniura _lymma2a.jpg Golden Trevally swim just ahead of a Whale Shark at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. This same association has been observed in the wild. Benefits to the trevally could include improved food finding or energy saving; benefits to the shark are probably minimal. Photo by Marj Awai, courtesy of the Georgia Aquarium; used with permission A Common Thresher Shark, one of three species of thresher sharks. Half of the length of a thresher is taken up by the tail, which the sharks use to whack the small fishes on which they feed. Photo by Petter Lindgren, Wikimedia Commons, http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Threshershark.jpg An aggregation of Scalloped Hammerheads . This species congregates over seamounts by day in groups that can number in the hundreds. Individuals then move away from the seamount to forage at night. Photo by Seawatch.org, Wikimedia Commons, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sphyrna _lewini_school.jpg “Polaris breach!” A large White Shark cartwheels through the air after launching r itself upward f to feed on a Cape fur seal. r In this case, the shark was fooled by a decoy shaped like a fur seal r that was t being towed behind the photographer’s boat. The shark is still holding the decoy in its mouth. Photo by Austin Gallagher, http: //austingallagher.com; used with permission Sand Tiger Sharks r are often kept in t large public aquariums because of their f ability r to survive captivity. This more than 2-m-long (6.5-ft) male was one of several f Sand Tigers in the Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town, South Africa. Photo by Gene Helfman Basking Sharks got their name because they often swim slowly near the surface while feeding, behavior that was mistaken for basking in the sun. They also do not avoid approaching boats, making them easy to spear or ram. This harassment and serious overfishing have caused their populations to crash worldwide . Photo courtesy of Jeff Rotman, www.jeffrotman.com...