Dayton Daily News

Five things you might not know about sharks

Enjoy the movie ‘Jaws,’ but you should realize that it’s fiction.

- By Joan Morris

If all you know about sharks is what you learned from watching “Jaws,” then you don’t know jack.

Well, you do know a lot of things, but some of those movie facts — that sharks are bloodthirs­ty killers who hunt down naked latenight swimmers, seek out humans to devour and carry grudges big enough to choke a whale — are mere fish tales. They don’t hold water.

There certainly are encounters with sharks — there were 88 unprovoked shark bites around the world last year — you are more likely to be struck by lightning or bitten by your own dog than you are to get a serious bite from a shark.

Here are five facts about our favorite oceanic apex predator:

1. When it comes to humans versus sharks, the numbers are staggering. An average of 6 humans are killed worldwide each year by sharks, while humans kill 100 million to 273 million sharks annually, selling their body parts in markets around the globe.

2. Sharks were swimming in the ocean depths long before dinosaurs climbed onto land. Researcher­s say sharks date back 400 million years.

3. There are 465 known species of sharks, ranging from the tiny spined pygmy shark (about 8 inches long) to the whale shark (about 50 feet in length). Each of these sharks plays a role in keeping other fish population­s in check, which is why hunting and killing of sharks can create great imbalances in ocean life.

4. Richard Dreyfuss’ character in “Jaws” claimed that the shark is “a miracle of evolution,” and that the only thing it does is “swim and eat and make little sharks, that’s all.” That’s not exactly correct. Sharks have to eat, like every other living organism, but they don’t mate until they are 12 to 15 years old. The females give birth to one or two pups at a time, making it difficult for the sharks’ reproducti­on rates to keep pace with the annual kill rates.

5. Sharks are extraordin­ary hunters, who use six senses. In addition to smell, hearing, touch, taste and sight, they also are gifted with electrorec­eption — special pores around their faces detect electrical currents from other organisms and allow them to deftly hone in on their prey.

 ?? JIM RASSOL/SUN SENTINEL ?? William Fundora of the South Florida Shark Club drags a sandbar shark back into the water off the north end of Delray Beach. The city may soon ban land-based shark fishing.
JIM RASSOL/SUN SENTINEL William Fundora of the South Florida Shark Club drags a sandbar shark back into the water off the north end of Delray Beach. The city may soon ban land-based shark fishing.

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