Misconception Of Sharks Essay

When most people think of sharks, a scenario pops in their head. A huge, creature, with monstrous teeth swimming directly at them, in the depths of the ocean, with its mouth open, about to sink its jaws right into their body. People`s fears of shark are heightened because of what is shown in the media and reports, but in reality, sharks show little to no threat to humans. People have the misconception that all sharks are huge with big teeth and want to eat them. Little is actually known about the diversity of one of the most feared creatures that roam the sea. Sharks, also known as elasmobranches, wander throughout the ocean and are common among the Caribbean coast of central America. A study conducted by SUNY Stony-brook was completed in order

From the three hundred and eighteen sharks caught, none were found to be threating or gigantic. The most common shark caught was the nurse sharks, which was 57.8% of the creature found. Discovered after at 32.2% were the Caribbean reef sharks, southern stingrays at 5.6%, Caribbean sharp nose sharks at 1.8%, lemon sharks at 1.2%, silky sharks at 0.06%, and a Galapagos shark at 0.03%. The longline catching revealed the vast assortment of sharks in the wild. The paradox that sharks only live in the depth of the ocean, was proven false as well. In 2001, the deep lagoon was the most common place for sharks to live in out of all those categories, however upon approaching the year 2004, there was a decrease in shark’s habits here. Instead, sharks seemed to have their niche in the ocean reef. This is probably due to the lack of food in the deep lagoon and an increase of fish in oceans reef. While the number of sharks from the deep lagoon decreased and the number of sharks in the ocean reefs increased, the sharks living in the shallow lagoon stayed consistent throughout the years. The image of a huge shark, with enormous teeth, swimming towards someone in the deep ocean was proved incorrectly through this