![]() Find out about the world's biggest and fastest sharks, how sharks reproduce, and how some species are at. Sharks help to keep a balance in the food chain.Īll of these factors play into why we need sharks and why they need to be protected. 5:01 Sharks 101 Sharks can rouse fear and awe like no other creature in the sea. The dwarf lantern shark, for example, is small enough to fit in your hand. The oldest shark teeth were found in Europe. Sharks are vital to the health of the oceans and most of them pose no threat to humans whatsoever. The smallest shark is the dwarf lantern shark it measures six inches (15 centimeters). If all those other sea dwellers couldn’t get these key nutrients, the impact could be devastating to life above and below the surface. Only about a dozen of more than 500 known shark species have ever fatally injured a human. Their migration patterns as well as their travels between the depths and surface allows these nutrients to travel along with them and move through the ocean. This is true of all ocean creatures, and the larger the creature, the more carbon dioxide is kept out of the atmosphere.įinally, sharks help to move key nutrients for other ocean dwellers due to how they live. This is beneficial to us because most of the carbon and carbon dioxide in their bodies remains at the bottom of the sea with them rather than being released into the atmosphere and the air we breathe. This contributes to the overall health of the oceans.Īdditionally, sharks can act as effective carbon sinks - a phenomenon wherein when they die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean. Skin of dwarf lantern shark is covered with thin, randomly arranged, V-shaped scales called dermal denticles. Unlike human teeth, shark teeth continue to regenerate. but don’t be fooled: they do not speak whale like Dory. They can grow to be 40 feet in length and weigh more than 20 tons. Whale sharks are the largest species of shark in the world. Dwarf lantern shark has 5 small gill slits on the lateral side of the body. The dwarf lantern shark is the smallest shark in the world. There are 20 to 23 rows of teeth in the upper jaw and 30 to 34 rows of teeth in the lower jaw. While the predators help with population control, the bottom feeders and clean up crew work to keep our oceans clean. Teeth of dwarf lantern shark are designed for cutting and slicing. At the smaller end of the spectrum the Dwarf Lantern Shark is about the size of a human hand contrasted with the gigantic size of a Whale Shark which can grow to 12 meters long. First, Sharks help to maintain the balance of our ocean ecosystems. There are over 500 different species of sharks and they vary in diet, shape, and size. And all those reasons point to the fact that the health of our oceans depends on them. There are several reasons that Sharks are important. Of the over 500 species, over 140 species of sharks are under threat and classified from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘critically endangered’. The lower teeth are bladelike, with a single cusp, or point. It can reach speeds of up to 46 mph, allowing them to hunt swordfish, another extremely fast predator.Scientists believe that sharks have been around for about 455 million years (based on fossil scales that have been uncovered). The dwarf lantern shark is a small Atlantic shark belonging to the genus Etmopterus. The fastest shark in the ocean is the short fin mako shark.The largest shark is the whale shark, reaching lengths of 33 feet long.The smallest shark is the dwarf lantern shark (smaller than a human hand!), found at depths of 928 - 1,440 feet along the northern tip of South America.There are over 500 sharks worldwide, and about half of those are less than 3 feet long.Sharks have been around for over 450 million years, making them older than trees.A great white shark can have over 30,000 teeth in its lifetime, thanks to their never ending conveyer belt of teeth when a shark loses a tooth, it can get replaced within a day!.Shark skin feels like sandpaper, because their skin is covered in tiny, specialized teeth called “dermal denticles” (aka “skin teeth”).Greenland sharks can live to be over 400 years old.Sharks have no bones their skeletons are made out of cartilage, what our ears and noses are made out of.Sharks can sense electricity, almost like a "sixth sense," which means they can find prey that’s hiding under sand or mud even if they can’t see it or smell it or hear it.Shiffman and Paumard offered 10 shark facts for kids that help to illustrate that sharks are interesting, not sinister. Without sharks, we lose a healthy productive ocean, and in turn, damage our own future." ![]() Sharks regulate organisms down to the phytoplankton level, and phytoplankton, amongst other algae, are responsible for 50-70% of our world’s oxygen. Teeth of dwarf lantern shark are designed for cutting and slicing. She continued, "Without them, the whole ecosystem collapses.
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