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Few animals in the world have such a bad reputation as sharks, and it is probably primarily Hollywood that is behind it, but also the feeling of not being able to control the environment you are in when you are in the water. Sharks have evolved over hundreds of millions of years and existed long before the dinosaurs. They have evolved to perfection and are a survivor the likes of which the world has rarely seen. Unfortunately, sharks are becoming increasingly rare due to the brutal predation that humans face and also due to the fact that it is an apex predator that stands at the top of the food chain and thus also accumulates large amounts of environmental toxins.
Nothing could be more wrong than to say that these are killers and brutal beasts that eat everything. Sure, it's a big fish many times and if they want to try, there will be major mechanical damage, but we humans are definitely not on their menu, so forget everything you've seen on film because it's not true.
Sharks are very careful and watchful animals, they have evolved over a long time and to survive so many millions of years it probably needs a certain amount of vigilance and caution. Some sharks are very small. The smallest, the dwarf flounder, lives at a depth of 3-400 meters and is barely 20 cm long. The pygmy spiny shark does not even reach 30 cm in length as an adult. The largest whale shark, on the other hand, can be over 18 meters long, but still only eats plankton and small fish.
What draws many divers is of course the drama and fascination of the larger sharks and on the top list there are usually; hammerhead shark, whale shark, white shark, tiger shark, brugd, bull shark, galapagos shark, thresher shark, yearfin shark, ctiron shark, nurse shark and sand tiger shark but of course there are many many more. There are roughly 500 different known shark species today, of which roughly 200 are completely bottom-dwelling and roughly 200 live both on the bottom and in the open sea. Only about 25 different species live in the open sea alone. Close to 300 of the shark species are no larger than 1 meter, just over 50 species are between 1 and 1,5 meters, 50 of the species are 1,5–3 meters and 25 species are over 3 meters. So it is often not large animals we are talking about, but of course they are the most impressive and attract the most divers. Nevertheless, it is very fascinating to see small cat sharks and epaulette sharks of 40-70 cm in tropical seas where they often wander around on the bottom during night dives and in fact several are known as "walking sharks"
All sharks are cartilaginous fish and lack a swim bladder. Cartilage is lighter than bone and with the help of the well-developed fins they can easily glide through the oceans without wasting energy. Many sharks have to keep swimming all the time to oxygenate themselves and when they stop they slowly sink to the bottom. However, many sharks can lie still on the bottom for a long time and pump fresh oxygen-rich water themselves through their gills and do not have to swim at all all the time. All sharks all have internal fertilization and some lay eggs while others give birth to "live" young, i.e. they hatch when released. Sharks have more senses than humans. They also have a sixth sense which is sometimes called the electrical sense. All living animals send out small electrical impulses. These detect the shark through small pores called ampullae of Lorenzini. These are filled with jelly and sit all over the body but mainly in the nose. Through these pores, the shark can sense fish and other animals even though they are out of sight, which helps them when hunting. It is believed that this electric sense also helps them navigate.
Many shark species are threatened, mainly due to overfishing. In the world's oceans, approximately 120 million sharks are killed annually, while the population has decreased by over 90% since 20 years ago. The public's interest has mostly been directed towards the dangerousness of man-eating sharks, and the knowledge that there are also harmless and even useful sharks for humans has been poor. Now, however, the interest is growing as people are aware that there are endangered species among the sharks. Sharks are high up in the food chain and have a key role in the ecosystem. As divers, we therefore have an important role to go and see live sharks in nature and their natural environment, as a live shark has far greater value than one on a plate.
Welcome to book your shark adventure with us, these are really fascinating, exciting, awe-inspiring animals but who in most cases don't even care about us divers, on the contrary they unfortunately often swim away too quickly and it is therefore important to know where to go to see these incredible animals and learn to interact with them so you can really experience them up close.
If you want to read more about the other animals on our BIG 5 list, you can continue here: Turtles, manta ray, whale shark, Dolphins