Shark Diversity and Order

Sharks come in many sizes and shapes and have a great deal of diversity in the over 500 plus species of living animals. Currently, science divide sharks into 9 specific orders; there are actually 13, but four orders of sharks are entirely extinct. And all sharks -big and small- fit into these categories.

1. Carcharhiniformes, otherwise known as the ground sharks or whaler sharks, include some of the most well known sharks. There are over 270 species making this order the largest of all shark orders. It includes the tiger shark, hammerhead sharks, hound shark, cat shark, shy eye shark, all of the reef sharks, and the bull shark. Some traits that differentiates these sharks from others is their lack of an inner eyelid and enlongated snouts. They average eighteen inches to twenty feet in length.

2. The order Echinorhiniforme contained only two sharks; The prickly shark and the bramble shark. These sharks are named due to the thorn like denticles covering their skin and are slow swimming sharks that dwell in the bottoms of their chosen environments

3. Lamniformes, otherwise known as the mackerel sharks, include the most famous shark- the great white. There are 15 species in this order which also includes the megamouth shark, mako shark, thresher shark, goblin shark, porbeagle shark, sand tiger shark, and basking shark. They have large jaws and give birth to live offspring. Sometimes their offspring will eat their siblings in the womb before birth. They range from 3 to 32 feet in length

4. The order Hexanchiformes, otherwise known as the six gill or cow sharks, contains only seven species and are the rarest and most primitive of all living sharks. Their defining characteristics include six or seven gill slits (all other sharks have five gill slits) and they have only one dorsal fin. This order contains the frilled shark, the cow shark, and the broadnose seven gill. They prefer cold, deep water.

5. Heterodontiforme is the name of the order that contains the bullhead sharks or horned sharks. This order only contains nine species which include the horn shark, Port Jackson shark, and the Zebra Bullhead shark. Its defining characteristic is a big head with large brows. They live off of crustaceans, mollusks, and sea urchins.

6. Squatiniformes, otherwise known as the angel sharks, are sharks that have bodies that are flattened like ray's / skates and live on the bottom of the sea and sandy places where they can easily hide. They average 4 to 6 feet in length from nose to tail end. This order includes the clouded angelfish and sand devil.

7. Orectolobiformes, also known as the carpet sharks or the wobbegongs, are defined by the ornate skin patterns that look like fancy carpets, nasel barbels as well as having a mouth in front of their eyes. Comprised of 39 species, this is the most diverse order of sharks and they come in all shapes and sizes. They range from 12" to 46 feet in length and include the nurse sharks, wobbegong, bamboo sharks, zebra shark, and the whale shark- the largest fish in the world.

8. Squaliformes, also known as the dogfish sharks,has about 126 different species and includes the world's smallest shark: the dwarf lattern shark. Species include the gulper sharks, lattern sharks, dogfish sharks, cookie-cutter shark, and the Greenland shark.

9. Order Pristiophoriformes contains the saw sharks or carpenter sharks. It's members have long, flat, toothy saw-like snouts. They average out at 5 feet long and are bottom dwellers. Their food supply varies between small fish, squid, and Crustaceans. They also give birth to live young. Members of this order include the common sawshark, Queenland sawshark, and knifetooth sawshark.







pictures from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramble_shark, https://oceana.org/marine-life/sharks-rays/shortfin-mako-shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelshark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_shark, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawshark

New Thoughts on a New Crisis

During the first week of December 2010, parts of the Red Sea played host to a biological murder mystery as well as to a huge amount of unwanted global publicity. As an added 'bonus', the situation almost correctly mimicked a situation in a well known horror book ('Jaws' written by Peter Benchley and published in 1974) which added to the world wide furor.

For those who have not read the novel 'Jaws', it is centered on a killer great white shark. The author Peter Benchley writes about an animal 'impelled to attack', an animal that 'exists on instinct and impulse', 'aren't very bright', and a 'maniac running around loose, killing people whenever he felt like it'. Other quotes include: "There is a creature alive today without passion... without logic... A mindless eating machine. It lives to kill." The plot of the book is fairly simple. A great white shark kills some people in the ocean off of a small seashore town in the northeastern United States. The police chief tries to close the beaches, but is overruled by the local major who is worried about the tourist industry. The beaches remain open and more people are killed by the shark. A shark expert is called to kill the shark and the shark is destroyed at the end of the book. The movie that was released in 1975 is centered around this simplified plot- leaving out the subplots for the most part.

The situation that has recently cropped up in the Red Sea is not really different. A shark- or more than one – attacked four people in two days. All four individuals survived and the local governor (Mohammed Shosha) declared the beaches closed for 48 hours. After two sharks were killed during that time, he then reopened the beaches and declared that the danger was past. True to the book, a woman standing chest deep in water was attacked and died almost immediately. Sharks sightings in this area are rare and attacks are rarer still- while five swimmers were attacked in six days recently, there have been only six reported shark attacks in the last decade in this area until now. The beaches were then closed to swimming and will be indefinitely, and hunters have been out looking for the sharks suspected. The one major twist is that these attacks appear to have been committed by members of the oceanic white-tip and the mako shark population- and add that scientist believe that one specific shark was responsible for two of the attacks- a finding that is unprecedented... well, outside of Peter Benchley's book of course. Add to that the idea that oceanic white-tip sharks are not considered seriously dangerous sharks for people and are not listed in the top killers.... and this story sounds a wee bit scary! The mako shark that attacked and caused the fatality has been caught and confirmed by checking its jaws/teeth. The oceanic white-tip is still at large.

There are lots of theories about why this 'tragedy' happened. There are thoughts that the fish supply is low causing sharks to have to look harder for food. Others have suggested that snorkelers who feed fish illegally are causing the fish to come closer to land... and bringing their predators with them. Other suggestions include the idea that illegal carcass dumping off shore could be conditioning the sharks to find food closer to the shore making humans more at risk. And other theories that are a tad less likely are climate change and possible Isreali plots- I swear I didn't make that up! The only thing that scientists seem to agree on is that these attacks are the result of humans disrupting the environmental balance in the area. My first thought upon hearing about these attacks was that the sharks are having a harder time finding food. It is also telling that the humans were a 'mistake' attack because almost all survived- they were stalked, bitten and then the shark left-recognizing that this wasn't his typical food. (that's a guess) Let's be blunt- if the shark wanted to eat the humans, they would have had no problems doing so and no one in these situations could have stopped them.

A lot of research has been done... and scientists have studied and discovered a lot more information about sharks – not just great white sharks) since the 1974 publishing of the novel that devastated beach tourist areas across the world by causing panic and vacation changes by thousands of people. We know that sharks are not animals that are looking to eat us. We know quite a few facts including

1. Sharks attack in three ways: the hit-and-run, the bump-and-bite, and the sneak attack. The sneak attack is more likely to happen during the time periods of dusk or dawn and also in murky water. The hit-and-run is the most common where a shark sees a piece of us moving (a hand or a foot perhaps) and attacks thinking it is a fish. Realizing that it made an error, the shark lets go and leaves most of the time. The bump-and-bite is the most dangerous as the shark bumps you to see what you are... and if it decides that you are food will attack wholeheartedly.

2. The three sharks that are more likely to attack humans are the bull shark, the great white shark, and the tiger shark. Each of these sharks have different behavior patterns, a different diet, and a different way for attacking prey. For instance tiger and bull sharks tend to hunt at night while great white sharks tend to hunt during daylight hours. Bull sharks are also more likely to attack in shallow water and by far are considered the most aggressive.

3. The most dangerous to humans is the great white shark which, while usually spitting out promptly its mistaken bit of human flesh, leaves huge bleeding wounds on its victims. The great whites that attack human tends to be in the 8'-12' range in length leading to speculation that they are inexperienced juveniles still figuring out how to hunt for the seals they prefer.

4. We are more dangerous to sharks and humans kill thousands for sport and food every year.

5. Some sharks travel thousands of miles and some have been known to travel 1800 miles in a six month period. Very few are thought to be territorial.

Peter Benchley himself felt some responsibility for the negative attitudes that the general public felt about sharks that he felt were created due to his book. He later in life became an ocean conservationist and in 2000, he wrote: “considering the knowledge accumulated about sharks in the last 25 years, I couldn't possibly write Jaws today ... not in good conscience anyway. Back then, it was generally accepted that great whites were anthrophagous (they ate people) by choice. Now we know that almost every attack on a human is an accident: The shark mistakes the human for its normal prey.”

What happened in the Red Sea attacks is a tragedy and frightening to think about. We as human beings man never know why the sharks attacked, and why such an infrequent thing happened so many times in one short time frame. What we can do is try to figure it out and change our behavior. For certainly, it seems very likely that no matter what the cause, human beings helped cause this tragedy. Blaming or demonizing the sharks will do nothing positive and has the potential to cause even more ecological imbalance as in our fear, we kill any shark we can catch. I hope that the families are receiving the help that they need to grieve and recover and that the victims are safe and recovering as well. But I do hope we see this as a lesson that we can attempt to learn and not as another opportunity for fear and murder. Our Heavenly Father loves us... and the sharks... and the earth. May we remember that... and that we can coexist... together.