Here are 10 Kickass and Cool Shark Species.
01. Megamouth Shark
The Megamouth shark’s most prominent feature is its large mouth, hence its name. The animal uses its giant maw for filter feeding, much as whale sharks and basking sharks cruise the ocean with their mouths open, straining tiny animals called plankton out of the water. Small, shrimp-like animals called krill are believed to make up a large portion of the megamouth’s diet.
The maximum size of a megamouth shark is at least 550cm (17ft). Males mature by 400cm (13ft) and female by 500cm (16ft).
02. Mako Shark
The Mako shark, also called Isurus in the scientific community, is an incredible and extremely fast beast. Today, there are only two living species of Mako remaining. They are called the Longfin Makos and the Shortfin Makos.
The largest is the Longfin with a length of about 4.5 meters (14ft) and adults weigh in around 170 kilograms (375 pounds). Shortfin sharks are usually about half this size and weight.
This is the fastest shark species in the world. They average an incredible 60mph when hunting for prey! One of the secrets for their great speed is their aerodynamic skin, which has been replicated to fabricate swimsuits.
03. Angular Roughshark
This rare and mysterious species of shark forms a very bizarre appearance with its unusually large fins and rough, teeth-like scales, called denticles, covering its body. Averaging about two feet in length, this species of shark is not typically targeted by fisheries, but is still classified as a vulnerable species because it is often caught as bycatch.
04. Sawshark
Sawsharks have a long and flat saw-like rostrum studded with teeth. They are small slender sharks with flattened heads and a pair or barbels beneath the rostrum. They are found only on continental and insular shelves of the northwest and southeast Atlantic, West Indian and west Pacific Ocean, in shallow water in temperate regions, deeper in the tropics.
05. Elephant shark
Elephant sharks can be easily recognized by the hoe-shaped structure on the snout. This unique species use their distinctive nose like a metal detector to search the sea floor for shellfish.
These mystical and unique creatures are iconic to the shallow waters of the Melbourne Peninsula and ordinarily reside well out of eyesight, 200 meters below sea level. The only exception to this rule is when they spawn and can be found in relatively shallow waters, which makes them easy to be caught by fishermen.
06. Bull shark
Bull sharks are aggressive and usually live near high-population areas like tropical shorelines. They are not bothered by brackish and freshwater, and even venture far inland via rivers and tributaries.
The species has been spotted 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) up the Amazon River in South America and dwell in Lake Nicaragua, a freshwater lake in Central America. Bull sharks have traveled up the Mississippi River as far north as Illinois and are regularly spotted in India’s Ganges.
07. Goblin Shark
They feel comfortable living in the very deep parts of the water close to the floor of the ocean. They don’t like to be exposed to the sunlight so they are sometimes referred to as vampire sharks. Their numbers can’t even be estimated due to their lack of sightings.
They are a very pale gray color with a pinkish white belly. Their pink skin is so transparent you can actually see the blood vessels inside. The nose is pointed and some species appear to have a sword at the tip of it. This can be a very effective tool used for hunting prey and protecting itself.
08. Frilled Shark
This serpentine specimen may look like a large eel, but its six slitlike gills help mark it as a cousin of the great white, the hammerhead, and other sharks.
Believed to have changed little since prehistoric times, the frilled shark is linked to long-extinct species by its slinky shape and by an upper jaw that is part of its skull. Most living sharks have hinged top jaws.
09. Hammerhead Sharks
Hammerhead sharks are consummate predators that use their oddly shaped heads to improve their ability to find prey. Their wide-set eyes give them a better visual range than most other sharks. And by spreading their highly specialized sensory organs over their wide, mallet-shaped head, they can more thoroughly scan the ocean for food.
The great hammerhead is the largest of the nine identified species of this shark. It can grow up to 20 feet (6 meters) in length and weigh up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg), although smaller sizes are more common.
10. Greenland Shark
They can be as big as great white sharks, but that’s about as far as the comparison goes. Their maximum speed is a lethargic 1.7 miles per hour (2.7 kilometers per hour), many are almost blind, and they are happy to eat rotting carcasses. They may be common throughout the ocean, but you’ve probably never heard of them. Meet the Greenland shark.
Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) can grow up to 7.3 metres (24 feet) long, making them one of the largest of all fish, and the biggest in the Arctic.
That’s a small sawtooth fish. Not a sawshark!!!
Definitely isn’t sporting those “barbels” they referred to.
The elephant shark looks funny.