Swimmers of the Deep

By FPL_Suzanne

In honor of Shark Week that began Sunday, July 7 on the Discovery Channel, here are some fun and not-so-frightening facts about those misunderstood creatures of the deep.

  • Did you know sharks don’t sleep like we do? They have times when they are active and times when they are at rest.
  • There are more than 400 species of sharks with the great white being just one of them.
  • Sharks don’t have bones like other fish, or like you and me. Their skeleton is made all of cartilage. Cartilage is a strong connective tissue we have in our ears, noses, and joints (spaces between our bones).
  • Human children have 20 teeth and grownups have 32 all in two rows. However, did you know that sharks have between 50 and 300 teeth in 5-15 rows?! Unlike us, they don’t even get cavities!
  • Contrary to popular belief because of the way sharks are portrayed in movies and television, they do not look for humans while they are swimming in the ocean. The risk of being attacked by a shark at the beach in the United States is 1 in 11.5 million.

These fish might be big and fierce looking, but we don’t have to be afraid of them.

To read and learn more about the misunderstood shark, click on the link below:

Swimmers of the Deep – Sharks!, opens a new window