Fun facts
- A few shark species need to keep moving in order to keep breathing. Great whites, Mako, and Salmon Sharks don’t have sufficient strength to pump water through their gills, and have to keep on swimming in order to allow water to flow through their gills.
- The Aztecs used to attach chili peppers to their canoes. This was believed to keep sharks away.
- There are at least 350 known species of sharks in our waters. While they are distinctions in size and shape, most have similar physical attributes such as flexible cartilaginous skeletons and large livers.
- Sharks will keep eating till they regurgitate, after which they will continue eating.
- Great Whites roll their eyes to the back of their head in order to protect their eyes when attacking their prey.
- Sharks have internal ears but can hear prey up to 800 feat away.
- Sharks have such a formidable sense of smell that they can detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic sized pool.
- Pygmy sharks measure an average of eight inches in length and can produce their own light.
- Researchers have found intact tires, gasoline tanks, and license plates in sharks’ stomachs.
- The average sharks lives approximately for 25 years, but some can live up to 100 years.