- The Sandtiger Shark has numerous thin,
wicked-looking teeth. It lives in shallow waters
in the West Atlantic and Mediterranean, and along Florida's east coast.
- The Tiger Shark,(Galeocerdo cuvier) has a greyish brown skin which
looks like tiger skin. It grows to about 16 feet and frequently attacks
swimmers. The Tiger Shark lives in tropical and sub-tropical waters. The Tiger
Shark's stomach contents have been found to include crabs, lobsters,
stingrays, sea turtles, porpoises, other sharks, human limbs, dogs, tin
cans, garbage and coal. It is ovoviviparous.
- The Great White Shark (Carharodon carcharias) is a shallow water shark
who likes to travel. He has even starred in a few movies, and is famous for
his smile. That's because he has plenty of very big white teeth. His
teeth are evenly serrated, the better to eat you or anything else with.
The Great White is white on the bottom and a sort of charcoal color on
top, with big jet-black eyes and a crescent-shaped tail fin. He grows up
to be about 25 feet long!
- Bull Sharks(Carcharinus leucas) are grey with an off-white underside, a blunt nose,
stout body and no dorsal ridge. They are slow swimmers,
can breathe while at rest, and grow to about ten feet. They are the only
sharks who are just as happy in fresh water as salt water and have been
found as far as 2,000 miles inland. Bull Sharks are world class travellers,
and have been sighted in Lake Nicaragua, Guatemala's Lake Yzabal, the
Spanish Main and New York, but their favorite hangouts are in shallow
waters along the continental shelves. They'll eat just about any kind of
fish and even you, if give them a chance.
- The Dusky Shark lives inshore and offshore in tropical and temperate
Atlantic and Pacific waters. It is ridge backed and feeds on a wide
veriety of fish. It can grow to be as big as 10 feet.
Harriet and Heming are hanging on to the fin of a whale shark.|
Heming says: "Harriet you have the most amazing friends,
but it sure is
Harriet says: "Do you prefer warm water Heming?
about the Gulf of Mexico?
If the telephone lines can get there, so
- The Basking Shark is specially adapted for filtering large numbers of
small organisms out of the water. The small prey are engulfed in the
mouth and then filtered near the surface of the shark's gills as water
passes out through the large gill slits. The Basking Shark filters
350,000 gallons of water an hour, and its stomach can contain up to half a
ton of plankton at one time. The basking shark can be found traveling in
schools of up to 100 individuals in temperate waters of the Atlantic and
- The Whale Shark (Rhiniodon typus) is the largest and gentlest sea
creature, and considered harmless to humans. It cruises around the
equator in the open sea, occasionally ranging into temperate waters. The
Whale Shark is dark brown with yellowish spots topside, and white
underside. If you ever heard the story of Pinocchio, this is the shark
Gepetto lived inside of until Pinocchio came to get him out.