Bull Shark Classification

The Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and species for the Bull Shark are as follows: Animalia, Chordata, Chondrichthyes, Carcharhiniformes, Carcharhinidae leucas (Simpfender & Burgess). The taxonomy of every living thing is different, so the classification of the Bull Shark is the one way worldwide to know exactly what animal is being referred to because one animal may have many different common names. Carcharhinus leucas is referred to by many different common names around the world for example the spanish it Tiburon Sarda, the french call it Requin Bouledogue, in Africa they refer to it as Van Rooyen's Shark, in Australia it is referred to as the Swan River Whaler, and that is only a few of the Bull Sharks many common names (Curtis).

Bull Sharks in their natural habitats worldwide may appear to move slowly but with a burst speed of 11 mph they efficient hunters (Curtis). Bull Sharks have been known to eat almost anything fish, stingrays, dolphins, squid, seabirds, smaller sharks, and much more: “ Humans are not, per se, on their menus. However, they… often attack people inadvertently or out of curiosity” (“Bullshark”). The Bull Shark is found all over the world: Bull Sharks are aggressive and can be found in saltwater, or freshwater (“Bullshark”). Bull sharks prefer to swim in waters that are around less than 100 feet deep, and “ Bull Sharks occur in tropical to subtropical coastal waters worldwide…” (Curtis). Their habitat includes: River mouths or systems, lagoons, bays, harbors, and, estuaries. Both juvenile and adult Bull Sharks nursery grounds are in lagoons or estuaries with lower salt levels, yet Bull Sharks can breed in freshwater and saltwater, but not go through its full life cycle in freshwater (Curtis).
After the recent studies of a few scientists it has become known that based on the geological location of a Carcharhinus leucas variations in the maturity growth rate of individuals in certain areas can cause them to reach full maturity faster than others in different areas based on water salinity, temperature, and food availability (Curtis).

In warmer waters Bull Shark mating occurs year-round while mating females usually receive mating scars on their dorsum, “the back or outer surface of an organ…” (“dorsum”). They typically carry from one to thirteen pups at one time for ten to eleven months. When the female Bull Sharks gives birth it gives birth to free swimming, live young in their nursery grounds that are again, in areas with low salinity and shallow waters (Curtis). The Pups that survive will be around 56 to 81 centimeters long at birth, and grow approximately to be around 340 centimeters when fully matured (Simpfender & Burgess). Female Bull Sharks are typically larger than males when fully grown and mature; the lifespan for both males and females is around 16 years (Curtis). Females on average are around 180 to 230 centimeters long and 285 pounds, and males on average are around 157 to 226 centimeters and 209 pounds, but the biggest known Bull Shark was reported to be 11.5 feet and 500 pounds (Simpfender and Burgess; Curtis). “Bull sharks are pale to dark grey [on their dorsal, and fade] to white on their [ventral, but on] younger individuals the fins have black

tips that fade… as they grow” (Curtis). Yet there are other distinctive features that can help scientists or even everyday people know that they are in fact describing the outward characteristics of a Bull Shark. Bull sharks are known for their: thick, stout body, blunt, rounded snout, tendency to head-butt their prey before attacking, long, angular pectoral fins, large, broad triangular first and second dorsal fins with pointed apexes, lack of an interdorsal fin, which is a ridge of skin that is between the first and second dorsal fins, and small eyes that indicate that their eyesight is not vital during hunting (“Bullshark”; Curtis; “Interdorsal Ridge”). But if a scientist was simply observing the teeth of the Carcharhinus leucas they would observe that the interior, front, teeth are nearly symmetrical and erect, the teeth in the posterior, back, are more of a slanted shape, the teeth at the dorsal, upper side, of the shark's mouth are triangular, broad, and heavily serrated, the teeth on the ventral, lower side, of the shark’s mouth are triangular, narrow with broad bases,and fine serrations (Curtis).
Bull sharks are not known for having many predators, but for being the predator.

But occasionally the younger sharks are preyed on by bigger sharks that do not necessarily have to be Bull sharks they can be become prey to any larger species of shark and occasionally a crocodile. However there are parasites like Pandarus sinuatus, and Periscopus dentatus that use the surface of the shark’s skin and use it to survive (Curtis). Though that does not in anyway decrease or increase the economic uses for the bull shark, its effects on the environment, or level of danger to humans. In certain places around the world the amount of bull sharks is decreasing slightly, because sharks can be harvested to make fish food, for their meat, for oils, and their fins for shark fin soup, or in asia their skin can be used to make “good leather” (“Bullshark”; Curtis). Even though their numbers are thought to be decreasing according to the International Shark Attack Files, otherwise known as the ISAF, has reported that there have been at least 70 reported unprovoked attacks on humans of which 17 were fatal, but that is only the known number of the reported attacks by bull sharks there most likely have been many more attacks that went unreported (“Bullshark”; Curtis). They are known for being one of “the most dangerous sharks in the world” because they along side the tiger shark,and great white they are the most common sharks to attack a human

(“Bullshark”).
Though Carcharhinus leucas is an interesting vertebrate that can be found in a number of locations around the world there is also an interesting invertebrate called Architeuthis dux. The Taxonomy of the Giant Squid or the Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and species for the Giant Squid are as follows: Animalia, Mollusca, Cephalopoda, Teuthida, Architeuthidae, and Architeuthis dux (Mandli). Giant Squid though very large are not very easy to find, but “most of what [scientists] know comes from dead carcasses that floated to the surface and [were] found by fisherman (Roper). “...No one has seen [a Giant Squid] alive in its natural habitat. Only recent research has indicated where this habitat might be. It is in the deep sea… between 200 and 1000 meters… [in] the bottom of the sea rather than mid-water”, but some have been found in mid-water, for example a Japanese research team reeled in a 24 foot long female giant squid in mid-water (Mandli; Vaughan). Giant Squid live in cooler waters because “the blood of squids does not carry oxygen very well at higher temperatures. A squid will [literally] suffocate in warm water. Warm water will cause a giant squid to rise to the surface and not be able to get back down” (Vaughan). The largest Giant Squid that has been found was around 43 feet long and weighed around a ton, and the females appear to be around ten feet longer than males, some scientists believe that that is because there are eight different species of giant squid (“Giant Squid”; Roper). Based on the contents of the stomachs of the Giants squids scientist have found they believe they feed on deep water fish, smaller species of squid, smaller giant squid, and very rarely sperm whales (“Giant Squid”; Roper). The size of the Giant Squid suggests that they must be resourceful hunters which is supported by the fact that their eyes are around a foot wide, they can blend into their surroundings, and their tentacles are twice their body length (“Giant Squid”; Roper). They capture their prey with their two long feeding tentacles that shoot out like a net to grip its prey with its suckers, then bring it to its beak so it can be chewed, and bring it to the “tongue”, or the radula, that is covered in teeth that grinds the food the rest of the way, and finally it travels to the esophagus, brain, and finally to the stomach (Roper).