The important factor that created such a divergence through all the forms of sharks is how long they have been living on earth. With having over 400 000 million years to diverge from their ancestors, sharks now have such a diverse range of characteristics and abilities in order for them to survive. Sharks are also very geographically distributed around the world. This is due to living in the ocean which occupies 70% of the earths surface, (Ocean Service, 2013), thus giving sharks the ability to migrate globally. Furthermore, some sharks have the ability of living in fresh water, and not just in the ocean which also increases their global distribution. One example of a shark that is able to inhabit in fresh water is the bull shark, (Figure 7). …show more content…
The ability to live/swim in fresh water developed from sharks many years Figure 7: A photograph of a Bull shark, whom is a fresh water shark, (Sharkopedia, undated) ago.
This occurred through increasing kidney strength in order to release water by urinating often when in fresh water, (Fresh Water Sharks, 2013). Another way sharks are able to distribute it by living in different depths of water. Over years some sharks have adapted to living in the bottom of the see where it is cold and dark in order to not be preyed on. Furthermore, some have the ability to camouflage into the sea bed to protect themselves, and to be able to hunt. While other sharks can swim fast and are bigger in order to compete for food with other sharks and animals closer to the surface. Overall, sharks live all throughout the oceans, and have many unique features in order for them to …show more content…
survive. Adaptive Characteristics in Megalodon Sharks: One of the most interesting sharks is definitely the Megalodon (Figure 8) due to its gigantic size and that it was the biggest predator that roamed the seas. Fossils of the Megalodon, mainly its teeth, have been found all over the world. Some locations include Australia, Japan, North and South America, and Europe, (Sharkopedia, Figure 8: An image of a Megalodon shark, thought to be the biggest predator that ever existed. (Sharkopedia, Undated) undated).This shows that the Megalodon was a global shark, furthermore, it was also known to live in shallow warm waters. There were several anatomical characteristics that drove this sharks existence, one of the main ones was its enormous size. This was a big advantage to the Megalodon for it was the biggest predator in the sea. Its size helped it thrive at the top of the food chain not having to fear being another sharks meal. Furthermore, another important characteristic was the Megalodons jaw and teeth. These two characteristics helped the shark catch its prey and digest it. Many Megalodon teeth have been found, the teeth are up to seven inches long and are razor sharp, (Figure 9). Furthermore, scientists believe that their jaw could open six to eight feet in width, and were calculated to have a 24 000 Figure 9: A fossil of a Megalodon tooth that is the size of a hand, (Sharkopedia, undated).
to 40 000 pound bite, (Fossil Era, undated). These characteristics were very important to this shark due to its dietary needs, needing to eat 2,500 pounds of food a day because of its size, (Sharkopedia, undated). With the massive jaw and teeth, the Megalodon was able to eat whales by clamping down on the whales body with it's powerful jaws. This powerful impact had the ability of killing the whales almost immediately by crushing their skeleton and crucial organs. There have been remains of a 20 meter baleen whale without it's head, in the same area where there was Megalodon teeth fossils. This suggests that the shark tore off/or ate the whales head showing how powerful the Megalodon truly was, (Sharkopedia,
undated)
One of the previous papers in English class required the class to pick a paper to explore, this question will be concentrated on further in the synthesis essay. What evidence do scientist have to prove that prehistoric sharks existed? The reason behind picking this question wasn’t just to find proof that these monsters swam the seas, but to learn more about them from different resources. One of the resources that were used was a chapter in Angelo Mojetta’s book Sharks, called “ The Birth Of A Legend”. The other resource that was used for information was an article in Discovery Channels website called “ Prehistoric Sharks”. Sharks and Discovery Channel are the two resources that led to many other questions about their different, and similar views on prehistoric sharks existence.
Low oxygen consumption rates were reported in this study, most likely due to the low standard metabolic rates of the nurse sharks. Nurse sharks also had a lower routine metabolic rate compared to other species, which was attributed to their slower swimming speeds. Metabolic rate increased with temperature. The cost of transport was lower than is found in other species. This was attributed to the nurse sharks inactivity and less streamlined body.
The film Sharkwater is a documentary directed and produced by Rob Stewart. Rob is an underwater photographer and a biologist that has a fascination with sharks, and their behavioral aspects. His way of studying these creatures he is able to learn about life and how to survive on this earth. This film showed the characteristics of reflexive documentary, this is because of the attention drawn into the sharks, their behaviors, and how we are affecting them. A statement that really stuck the documentary is people are taught their whole entire lives that sharks are dangerous but when you finally see it underwater your whole life can change in a flash. Rob made a very valid point as well, which is believed to be his thesis statement.
head of a hammer. Their eyes and nostrils are at the ends of the hammer. There
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
The Carcharhinus leucas commonly called the "bull shark" is a very unique shark. The bull shark can live in both salt water and fresh water but is commonly found along the Mississippi River and around Nicaragua. The bull sharks has a very blunt rounded nose giving it a bullish type of appearance thus giving it the name bull shark. The sharks are a dark black to a light grey with a white underbelly. Bull sharks can grow to be about 350 cm long and weigh around 230 kilograms. Bull sharks also tend to have smaller eyes compared to many other sharks which indicates that the bull sharks have limited vision. The bull sharks have triangular teeth like the great white shark (one of the bull sharks cousins). The bulls teeth are heavily serrated and are about 1.5 inches long which makes it easy to tear apart the flesh of their prey.
A large part of the whale's diet is made up of small shrimp-like animals called krill, which the animal strains with its plates of baleen. In order to get enough of these small creatures to eat, a blue whale has to filter large amounts of water. Folds of skin on its throat expand like an accordion to allow the whale to gulp in as much as 64,600 liters (17,000 gal) of water at one time. The whale then pushes its tongue (which can be as large as a Volkswagen) to the roof of its mouth in order to force out the water. Food is caught in the hairs of the baleen and swallowed. A blue whale weighing 75 to 80 tons eats about 4 tons of krill per day during the feeding season.
presence of a cartilage skeleton, nine gill slits (turning into five gill slits in sharks, where the first four became the jaw), and fins. Sharks belong to the class Chondrichthyes—a more elaborated organism. Jaws derived from the first four gill slits, spiral valve, and productive fins. The fins are amongst the most important advancements made by the sharks.
On average they weigh 4,000-7,000 pounds and grow approximately 16-20 feet long ( Great white sharks 1). < commentary needed>Great Whites are the apex predator of the ocean containing 300 serrated teeth and highly-developed senses to hunt prey. Sharks have a great senses of smell, the Great White can smell a drop of blood thousand of miles away. They’re hearing is very powerful , being able to hear the vibrations of prey distances of about 800 ft away and find the exact location through ‘ear stone’( Great white 3). A shark 's sense of hearing truly shows their uniqueness as an apex predator. In addition to great hearing they’re known to have great sight by being able to see up to 50ft away and transition into seeing in light and dark. Additionally sharks have a lateral line on their back that reaches from the front to the back tail, allowing
Thesis: Sharks should be conserved because they are an important part of the ocean, attacks are often incidental, and human behavior influences the behavior of sharks.
In Chinese tradition, Shark fin soup is called as “a celebration soup”, which people eat it to celebrate in various occasions. Moreover, people also believed that shark fin consisted of diverse nutrition values which provide them virility, wealth, and power(Wolchover, 2011). These beliefs lead to the beginning of poaching for sharks, the top of food chain in the sea world. Surprisingly, although people are aware of the decreasing number of sharks since the old days, around hundred million of sharks are still hunted each year(Heltus, 2013), to be served on luxury tables surrounded by those believers in things that they do not even prove whether the belief is reliable. Therefore, in the generation that people are mostly educated, sharks should no longer have to be continuously killed for their fins.
Most people think that sharks are large, fast-swimmers, and savage predators. This is true of some species and groups should be interested of the appealing aspects of biology found within it: all sharks have an excellent sense of smell; some can detect electrical discharges; some sharks give birth to one of the
The morphology of whale sharks is mostly similar to aquatic fish species, but many specific traits help differentiate them from the rest. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world and can reach a size of around 20 meters (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). This is often compared to the size of a school bus. The shark has a very large transverse mouth. They have 5 very large gill slits and have a larger first dorsal fin compared to the second one (Whale Shark). They have a distinctive spotted “checkerboard” pattern with stripes (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). It is not exactly known why they have this specific body marking. It is believed that the body markings act as a camouflage. The strange thing about whale sharks is that they have 300 rows of teeth that play no role in feeding (Martins, C., and C. Knickle).
porpoises and other small whales and sea birds at the surface in its diet (I 65). These sharks also eats many kinds of fish, such as capelin, char, herring, halibut, lumpfish and even salmon. There has even been fast swimming fish found with its tail bitten off inside ...
The whale shark is a species with a fascinating ecology, life history, behavior, anatomy and physiology. Background The whale shark’s broad, flat head and large mouth make it very recognizable. Females typically grow to be bigger than the males and weigh anywhere from 47,000lbs to 66,000lbs as adults.