sharks

KNOW YOUR SHARKS

We enjoyed meeting our cephalopod friends last week- did you? This week we’re partying with the elasmobranchs – that’s right it’s Shark Week! Come learn more about these cartilaginous fish with us.

SHARK FUN FACTS: 

• Shark skeletons are made of cartilage, the same tissue that makes up human noses and ears. Their teeth do have enamel, which is why they fossilize.
•  Sharks have a special organ called the Ampullae of Lorenzini. This organ is compromised of small gel filled spots around the shark’s mouth, eyes and nose. The ampullae Of Lorenzini helps the shark detect electromagnetic fields and water temperature.
• Most sharks have excellent eyesight. They can see in color and in low light.
• Sharks have called the oceans home for 500 million years.
• The largest fish in the ocean is a shark! It’s the Whale Shark!
• Some sharks, like great whites, must swim continually to live. They must swim to move water over their gills. Other sharks, like nurse sharks, have spiracles that move the water over their gills. Spiracles allow the shark to lay still on the ocean floor.
• Some sharks can go through 35,000 teeth in a lifetime. Those teeth are in rows similar to a conveyer belt; when one falls out, the new one moves forward.
• Not all sharks have teeth though- those large whale sharks eat plankton that they filter.
• Giving birth is different for different species of sharks! Some sharks lay eggs (oviparous) called mermaid purses. Some sharks incubate the eggs inside their bodies and give live birth (ovoviviparity). And some sharks have a placental organ that attached to the egg and they give live birth (viviparity).

Wow! Sharks are such diverse and amazing creatures- you could spend a whole summer at camp just talking about these fantastic fish, sadly we only have a week! Any guess on some of the species will meet in the next few days?