The shark first made its appearance around 420 million years ago;  a primeval non-bony fish that predates the dinosaur by a couple of hundred million years.  The fact that it has outlived the reptilian overland giants is a stark reminder of its survival instincts and as of last count, around 400 different species roams the Earth’s salt and fresh waters.

Interesting Facts About Sharks

Fact 1 :    It is uncertain where the word “shark” originated but sailors in London, England first referred to the big fish as “sharke” in 1569.

Fact 2 :  In a lifetime, a shark may lose about 30,000 of its teeth. Rows of teeth grow  from the insides of the jaw and are pushed forward and thereafter become embed  into the gum to replace lost teeth. Replacement teeth happens by rows instead of piece by piece. This occurs constantly throughout the shark’s life which would explain the large number.

Fact 3 :    A typical shark has 8 fins and the way they are built into its body allows the shark to only veer away from an object in front of it. It can’t swim backwards or tail-direction.

Fact 4 :    A shark doesn’t  have bones in its body.  What should be bony skeleton is instead cartilage and connective tissue. The resilient cartilage being half as dense as regular fish bone, translates to a proportionally less heavy fish . The lighter weight allows the shark to conserve energy when swimming.

Fact 5 :     It is an established fact that sharks possess a very keen sense of smell. A shark senses the location of a scent by the differential time the odor reaches each nostril. The process is similar to how we detect the direction of sound using our ears.

Fact 6 :     On the average, most shark species live between 20 and 30 years. The extreme is represented by the spiny dogfish and the whale shark which can both reach over 100 years.

Fact 7 : Typically, sharks swim at cruising speeds of 8 kilometers per hour. Speed can reach upwards of 19 kilometers per hour when a shark feeds or responds to prey or perceived threat. The shortfin mako and the great white are capable of speed bursts of 50 kilometers per hour.

Fact 8 :    Sharks can be found in all seawater areas. The bull shark and the river shark are more versatile being able to survive in both freshwater and saltwater.

Fact 9 :     Around 100 million sharks are killed every year. In some Asian countries, shark fin soup is a delicacy. The fins are stripped off and the “finless” fish, at times still alive, is thrown back into the water. Without its fins which in 2009 cost about $300/lb in the black market, the shark faces certain death.

Fact 10 : Most sharks are carnivorous but very few of the approximately 400 species now extant are fatal threats to people. The great white shark and the bull shark being the more notable of these few.