Archive for the 'Sharks' Category
People often wear shark’s teeth around their neck. But, what is the significance and how do they get them? As the internet research states a sharks tooth symbolizes virility. I am not going to get any further into that aspect of the question. To each his or her own.
Here is some information on the rest [...]
Sharks really do have a sixth sense.
It is the electrosensory organ that we spoke of with the hammerhead sharks. The electrosensory organ is called the ampullae of Lorenzini. Sounds intimidating, but, it is really just a funky jelly filled canal that starts near the nose and helps them find food under the sand and figure [...]
It really feels like a phenomenon – especially when Poets.org is also celebrating Shark Week!
Here is a good one from the site by Isaac McLellan (poem “The Bluefish“):
The weaker tenants of the main
Flee from their rage in vain,
The vast menhaden multitudes
They massacre o’er the flood;
With lashing tail, with snapping teeth
They stain the tides with blood.
Do [...]
The hammerhead shark has evolved the interesting looking skull cap to accommodate its extra collection electrosensory organs. All sharks do have these electrosensory organs, but, the hammerhead has a bit more than the average shark species. The electrosensory organ are useful for traveling far distances in the open ocean. It is like a internal GPS [...]
In honor of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel I decided to post a different shark fact each week.
Today…What is the fastest shark species?
The mako shark is the fastest shark. It can get up to 20 miles per hour (or faster when being chased by an enemy). The mako shark can naturally move as fast [...]
Basically, there is a very high demand for the fins of sharks in China for a soup. The current practice is to cut off the fins off sharks and toss the body back into the ocean.
The shark does not grow a fin back like a seastar would regenerate an arm.
The shark will not be able [...]
“Sand shark” can be a bit of a catch-all term, but it seems to most commonly refer to the sand tiger shark, Charcharius taurus. Sand tigers are an interesting case study in form following function in shark teeth. Sand tigers have long, narrow, prong-shaped teeth—like the tines of a fork. Their teeth are perfectly shaped [...]
There are plenty of candidates. The deep-diving, plankton-feeding megamouth shark was discovered as recently as 1976 and is only known from 40 or so specimens. A group of species called “river sharks” seem pretty rare. Some have been described from just a single collected specimen. There are many deep sea sharks that have only been [...]
Well…no, but they do have skeletons. Confused? Many people are. Some folks are so confused that they think sharks’ boneless nature makes them invertebrates.
Sharks do have skeletons, just like you, but they’re made of cartilage rather than bone. Cartilage is the flexible stuff in the tip of your nose. A cartilage skeleton has its advantages. [...]
Sorta. Stingrays and sharks are very closely related. They belong to a group of fishes called the elasmobranchs. All elasmobranchs have skeletons made of cartilage (the flexible stuff in the tip of your nose) and 5-7 gill slits. The group includes sharks, rays and skates.
It’s not entirely incorrect to think of stingrays as flattened sharks. [...]
