Tag Archives: sharks

Amazing Sharks Facts Quiz

Check out our ultimate ‘Amazing Sharks’ Facts Quiz and discover how much you really know about JAWSOME SHARKS…

Questions

1. What is the largest species of shark?
2. What are baby sharks are called?
3. What are shark bones made of?
4. Up to how many teeth do sharks have? 100s, 1,000s or 10,000s?
5. Is shark skin smooth or rough?
6. What is the collective noun for a shark?
7. What is the fastest shark in the ocean?
8. What is the smallest species of shark in the ocean?
9. Do sharks have eyelids?
10. Can sharks see in colour?
11. Approximately how many species of shark can be found around Australia?
12. How many sharks are killed by humans every year?
13. On average, how many people are killed by sharks in Australia each year?
14. Name three species of shark commonly found off Australia
15. Do sharks lay eggs or give birth to live young?
16. What are mermaid’s purses?
17. Which common shark lives in fresh and salt water?
18. From what distance can sharks detect blood?
19. From what distance can sharks sense vibration?
20. Do all sharks need to keep moving to breath?

Answers

1. The largest species of shark is the whale shark
2. Baby sharks are called pups
3. Shark bones are made of cartilage
4. Many sharks have multiple rows of sharp teeth – they can grow up to 35,000 in a lifetime
5. Rough – shark skin feels like sandpaper
6. The collective noun for a shark is a Shiver (or School, Shoal)
7. The fastest shark in the ocean is the Shortfin Mako Shark (up to 74k an hour)
8. The smallest species of shark is the Dwarf Lantern Shark (smaller than an adult human hand)
9. Yes – sharks do have eyelids but they don’t blink
10. No – sharks do not see in colour
11. Approximately 180 species of shark can be found around Australia
12. 100 million sharks die each year 🙁
13. 1 person on average each year 🙁
14. Sharks commonly found off Australia…Great White, Port Jackson, Thresher, Zebra Shark, Tiger Shark, Tasselled Wobbegong, Whale Shark, Oceanic Whitetip, Blacktip Reef, Grey Nurse, Bull Shark, Bronze Whaler, Great Hammerhead, Blind Shark, Pygmy Shark
15. Some sharks lay eggs (oviparous) others give birth to live young (viviparous), and some are a combination of these two, they start life inside their mother as an egg, hatch inside her and then are born live (ovoviviparous)
16. Shark eggs – egg laying sharks lay egg cases known as mermaid’s purses
17. Bull Shark
18. Sharks are able to detect blood from 5 km
19. Sharks can sense vibrations from 3 kilometres away
20. No. Some sharks must swim constantly in order to get oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills but others pump water through their respiratory system.

How did you do in our ultimate ‘Amazing Sharks’ Facts Quiz?

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SHARKS?

Click the image below to take our online sharks course and click here for heaps of free information and resources about sharks.

Take Action to Protect Amazing Sharks

Educate yourself and your friends
Share your love of sharks on your social media channels
Join a volunteer shark conservation organisation like Shark Conservation Australia, Marine Conservation Australia, Sea Shepherd Australia – make a donation if you can!
Join a beach clean or just clean as you go!
Buy sustainable seafood and check restaurants have done so. Avoid flake at the Fish & Chip shop as it may be endangered shark
Ask politicians to support ocean acidification research

Ocean Life Education is passionate about protecting all marine animals and focusing on the important role sharks play in our oceans. We aim to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the most feared fish in the sea.

Check out our Shark Discovery Program for more information on how to inspire kids to love and respect sharks: www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/holiday-program/

Sharks Down Under – Amazing Australian Shark Facts

Contrary to popular belief, mainly brought about by scary shark movies, you have more chance of being killed by a coconut than a shark! Over-fishing and unsustainable practices are causing shark populations to decline worldwide. Amazing sharks play an important role in our oceans and on our majestic reefs and we should all be concerned about their numbers declining. We believe that the big danger is not sharks; the big danger is shark extinction.

Here in Australia, we are luck to have bountiful species of shark living off our coastline. Read on to discover some interesting facts about sharks of Australia, why we need sharks in Australia and why we need to protect sharks living off the coast of Australia.

Sharks in Australian Waters

There are considered to be around 180 species of sharks in Australian waters and 500 species worldwide. In fact, around 50 species of shark live right here, off the Eastern Coast of Queensland. Eastern Australia’s grey nurse sharks are considered critically endangered and school sharks (sometimes known as flake in fish and chip shops) and scalloped hammerheads are on the endangered shark list too.

Sharks Commonly Found off Australia

The following sharks are commonly found off Australia’s coast: Great White, Port Jackson, Thresher, Zebra Shark, Tiger Shark, Tasselled Wobbegong, Whale Shark, Oceanic Whitetip, Blacktip Reef, Grey Nurse, Bull Shark, Bronze Whaler, Great Hammerhead, Blind Shark, Pygmy Shark

Why Do We Need Sharks?

There is no doubt that we need sharks. As apex predators, sharks help maintain the balance of life in the sea. Sharks are a vital part of the food chain, controlling mid-sized predators and allowing small reef fish to thrive. Small reef fish take care of our amazing coral reef, therefore sharks help keep coral reef healthy. Without sharks, we would be denied the pleasure of exploring amazing underwater habitats such as the world’s largest natural wonder, Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. The global economic impact on tourism and of declining fish stocks would be huge. So, have no doubt, we need sharks!

Why Are Shark Populations in Decline?

Shark populations are in decline globally and in Australian waters. 100 million sharks are killed in worldwide fisheries each year and habitat degradation, pollution and climate change are also impacting international shark populations. Controversial shark nets and drum lines (designed to protect human populations) add further to the decline.

Sharks live a long time (20-30 years), grow slowly and take a long time to mature and reach reproductive age. This means that even if we slow the decline in shark populations now, populations will take a long time to recover.

Should I Be Scared of Sharks in Australia?

No! We don’t think you should be scared of sharks. The ocean is their home and when we visit their home we need to be very aware and respectful of them.

On average, one person a year is killed in a shark attack in Australia.

To put things in perspective…

5 people die from falling out of bed
10 people are struck down by lightning
1,100 are killed on our roads

Ultimate Shark Facts

Check out our ultimate shark facts and discover how much you really know about sharks.

The largest species of shark is the whale shark
Baby sharks are called pups
Shark bones are made of cartilage
Many sharks have multiple rows of sharp teeth – they can grow 35, 000 in a lifetime
Shark skin feels like sandpaper
The collective noun for a shark is a Shiver (or School, Shoal)
The fastest shark in the ocean is the Shortfin Mako Shark (up to 74k an hour)
The smallest species of shark is the Dwarf Lantern Shark (smaller than a human hand)
Sharks have eyelids but they do not blink
Sharks do not see in colour
10% of shark species are bioluminescent – they light up in the dark
180 species of shark live off the coast of Australia – 400 species worldwide
Bull sharks can live in fresh and salt water
Some sharks lay eggs (oviparous) others give birth to live young (viviparous), and some are a combination of these two, they start life inside their mother as an egg, hatch inside her and then are born live (ovoviviparous)
Egg laying sharks lay egg cases known as mermaid’s purses
Unlike humans, sharks breathe through gills, so their nostrils are purely dedicated to smelling
Sharks are able to detect blood from 5 km
Sharks can identify which of their two nostrils have picked up a scent – enabling them to determine the direction to swim to find food
Some species of shark can survive for up to 3 months between meals
Sharks can sense vibrations from 3 kilometres away

What Can I Do to Help Protect Sharks?

Educate yourself and your friends
Share your love of sharks on your social media channels
Join a volunteer shark conservation organisation like sharkconservationorg.au, marineconservation.org.au, seashepherd.com.au (make a donation if you can)
Join a beach clean or just clean as you go!
Buy sustainable seafood and check restaurants have done so. Avoid flake at the Fish & Chip shop as it may be endangered shark
Ask politicians to support ocean acidification research

Check out our Shark Discovery Program for more information on how to inspire kids to love and respect sharks: www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/holiday-program/

Want to know more about sharks?

Check out our Amazing Sharks Online Course

The High Price of Peace of Mind

We Aussies love our beaches – in the warmer months the coastline has a magnetic pull, drawing us to the sand, sea and surf in our thousands.

But while the thought of a refreshing ocean dip might be appealing, the concept of potentially coming face to face with one of our most feared predators has prompted officials to take drastic action.

Shark nets have been deployed off the shoreline of the east coast for more than 80 years. But they offer a false sense of security. Stretching less than 200 metres long and extending down only 6 metres, these mesh barriers are at best a deterrent and certainly don’t make beaches attack proof.

Sharks can get under, over or around them, and as it turns out, more are caught on the shore side of the net when they’re heading back out to sea, than when they’re swimming towards shore.

The holes in the mesh are around 50 centimetres across – large enough to let small animals pass through, but the perfect size for trapping bigger species.

Turtles, dolphins and rays are common victims of the nets – becoming entangled and drowning or starving to death. A major concern is the ensnaring of humpback whales on their journey back to Antarctica after their annual breeding season in the tropics.

Calves in particular are easy prey – in just over a decade 55 have been caught in the shark nets, including one off Noosa in late September this year. Another swam down to Sydney with the remnants of a Queensland net still wrapped around its mouth.

But the toll on the animals targeted by these barriers is far greater. In 2017 alone, more than 500 sharks were caught in the nets off Queensland – 377 died, more than 100 others had to be euthanised – only 20 were released.

Amongst the victims were grey nurse sharks which are classified as critically endangered and pose no real threat to us. The vast majority of species share the sea quite peacefully with people – only a handful of sharks are responsible for fatal attacks on humans.

Just to put it all into perspective, on average one person a year is killed by a shark in Australia, as opposed to 5 dying from falling out of bed, 10 struck down by lightning or perhaps the most sobering, more than 1,100 taken on our roads.

Shark attacks are extremely rare and there is no scientific evidence to prove that nets protect humans. What we do know is the attempt to keep us safe is killing marine life indiscriminately.

Removing so many animals, including apex predators, will have an impact on local marine ecosystems – but we won’t be able to calculate that cost until far too late.

Marine biologist, Holly Richmond, feels so passionately about the need to remove all nets, she’s created a video: www.thesharknetfilm.com

Ocean Life Education is passionate about protecting all marine animals and focusing on the important role sharks play in our oceans. For more information about our programs including our Shark Discovery presentation visit: https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/

A Shout out to Sharks

They are the most feared, yet the most misunderstood, of all marine animals – apex predators that pre-date the dinosaurs by an estimated 200 million years.

Of the almost 500 species of sharks swimming in our oceans, only a handful are the complex killers we hear about on the news – the majority have a far more sensitive side.

The reality is sharks don’t have a mean bone in their body… in fact they have no bones at all! Their skeletons are comprised of cartilage which is flexible and lightweight – allowing some to reach speeds of close to 100 kilometres an hour.

But while their sleek, race car bodies have helped them to survive for so long, ironically, it is also contributing to their downfall. Shark cartilage is used in beauty treatments and alternate medicines – a part of the reason 100 million of them are killed every year by humans.

It seems we have a love/hate relationship with these fish – while movies like Jaws are enough to keep some of us high and dry on the sand during a trip to the beach, others go to great lengths to absorb nutrients from sharks, adopting an eat or be eaten approach.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy in Asia and demand for the prestige product has led to the decimation of some species including the scalloped hammerhead. The process of removing the dorsal fin from a live animal is illegal in Australian waters, but the practise is difficult to police.

But what many of us miss in our obsession with sharks, is some of their truly extraordinary abilities. Unlike humans, they breathe through gills, so their nostrils are purely dedicated to smelling. Their sense is so refined, they can detect one drop of blood in 100 litres of water. Even more astounding is they can identify which of their two nostrils picked up the scent to determine the direction to swim to track their prey.

But it’s not just smell they’re tuned into – their ability to pick up on electrical impulse and vibrations is so acute, they can sense a Double A battery from 3 kilometres away. And while these skills are designed to help them locate food, some species can survive for up to 3 months between meals – the ultimate fasting regime!

Apart from their unparalleled skill in sensing their next feast, sharks are also well equipped to chow down their catch. They are known for their multiple rows of razor sharp teeth – and it appears they have an endless supply. While humans have one set of large teeth to last a lifetime, many species of sharks can grow tens of thousands, quickly replacing any that have gone blunt and fallen out.

And while this may seem terrifying to us, the reality is we are not on their menu. Attacks on humans are generally a case of mistaken identity – surfers are the most common target, mimicking the shape of a seal on the surface. While it may be of little comfort, statistically, you are more likely to be killed by a falling coconut or a flying champagne cork than to be taken by a shark.

Ocean Life Education runs a Shark Discovery program that helps to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the most feared fish in the sea. It is one of our most popular presentations as we explore all the fascinating features that make these apex predators such effective hunters yet strangely vulnerable at the same time.

When all the hype and hysteria is removed, it is easy to see how sharks play a vital role in maintaining balance in the marine eco-system. Deep down, (and also on the surface of their snout!), they really are quite sensitive.