great white shark

Above: one of the great whites favorite treats

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature/Great-white-shark

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/great-white-shark.html

When the great white shark is born it swims away from its mom. The reason some mother great white shark somtimes eat there own young. At birth this shark is already 5 feet long!!! Thats one big baby!!!!Many great white pups dont survive there 1st year.

The shark pups usally eat fish and other sharks when they are pups. When they get older the eat sea lions and seals. After eating a seal and/or a sealion the can go a month or 2 without eating a big meal.

Great whites are the largest predatory fish on Earth. They grow to an average of 15 feet (4.6 meters) in length, though specimens exceeding 20 feet (6 meters) and weighing up to 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) have been recorded.They have slate-gray upper bodies to blend in with the rocky coastal sea floor, but get their name from their universally white underbellies. They are streamlined, torpedo-shaped swimmers with very forcefull tails that can propel them through the water at speeds of up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) per hour. They can even leave the water completely, breaching like whales when attacking prey from underneath.

cookie cutter shark

we would like 2 welcome the newest shark 2 our blog. The cookie cutter shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How does a smaller shark go up against bigger one and not get eaten? Well, from below the cookie-cutter shark looks like a small fish. It swims slowly and waits for a larger predator to attack the As the predator is about to attack, the cookie-cutter shark turns and attacks the attacker.In other words the prey has just become the predator. The forward motion of the larger animal may even assist the cookie-cutter shark. By the time the larger animal realized what happened, the cookie-cutter is long gone.

The Cookie-cutter Shark is named after the cookie-shaped wounds that it leaves on the bodies of larger animals . Keep reading to find out more about the cookie cutter shark.
This species has a small cigar-shaped body (up to about 50 cm in length), a conical snout and two low, spineless dorsal fins positioned posteriorly on the body. It is dark brown dorsally, lighter below, and has a distinct dark collar around the gill region . The entire ventral surface, with the exception of the dark collar, is covered in a dense network of tiny photophores, which in life produce an even greenish glow. That sounds a little wierd!The genus name Isistius is derived from Isis, the Egyptian goddess of light.
This species has small, erect teeth in the upper jaw and large triangular teeth in the lower jaw. The Cookie-cutter Shark attaches itself to its prey with its suctorial lips, and then spins to cut out a cookie-shaped plug of flesh from the larger animal.

The dark collar is not illuminated, so would be silhouetted against the light from above. The theory suggests that this dark area would look like a small fish from below, and the Cookie-cutter Shark would wait for a larger predator to attack the "small fish". As the predator is about to attack, the Cookie-cutter Shark would turn and attack the attacker. The forward motion of the larger animal may even assist the Cookie-cutter Shark in removing the plug of flesh.
In addition to plugs of flesh from larger animals, the Cookie-cutter Shark is also known to eat squid. There are even reports of this species leaving crater-marks on the sonar domes of submarines
Cookie-cutter Sharks are recorded from scattered localities around the world. In Australia they have been recorded from Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. They vertically migrate, being found in deep water, probably below 1000 m during the day, and migrating into surface waters at night.
www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/fishfacts/fish/ibrasil.htm - 13k

http://michaeldoig.net/41/large-shark-eats-your-clients.htm

funny shark picture of the month

March picture

whatever you want

if there is something u want 2 see on the site that isn't there just leave us a comment . We will most likely put it on the site

cool shark link

want 2 know about shark attacks and sharks in the news go 2 http://www.underwatertimes.com/sharks/sharks.php

:P

this is the basking shark !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

basking shark:

2008/03/09 03:59:41.504 GMT-4
By Robin Street
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Cetorhinidae
Genus: Cetorhinus
Species: Cetorhinus maximus
Geographic Range
North and South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Biogeographic Regions: oceanic islands (native ); atlantic ocean (native ); pacific ocean (native ).
Habitat
Basking sharks inhabit subpolar and temperate seas moving southward during the winter. They prefer surface waters of the open sea, straying inland only to breed in the summer.
Aquatic Biomes: coastal .
Physical Description
Mass3900 kg (average)(8580 lbs)
The basking shark has a conical snout, enormous gills, dark bristle-like gill rakers, and a crescent-shaped tail. Teeth are small and numerous(about one hundred per row) with a single conical cusp usually curved backwards, and similar in both jaws. Color is grayish brown to black above, often with blotches of a lighter color, and pale with blotches on the belly. Average size of this shark ranges from 7-9 m.
Some key physical features: bilateral symmetry .
Reproduction
Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)2920 days (average) [External Source: AnAge]
Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)2920 days (average) [External Source: AnAge]
Basking sharks are believed to be ovoviviperous. Females mature at 4-5m. Embryos supposedly measure between 1.5-1.8m in length.
Behavior
This is a migratory speciesal though its seasonal movements aren't well known. They dwell in northern waters as long as the plankton population is abundant, moving south in the winter. Though they are largely oceanic sharks, they can be found off the coast of Iceland and northern Europe during the summer where they mate.
Key behaviors: natatorial ; motile .
Food Habits
To capture food, this shark swims with its mouth open widely, gillrakers straining plankton from the water. The absence of basking sharks in the winter has led to the belief that they hibernate in deep waters until the following summer and, since they lose their gill rakers in winter, possibly cease to feed during this time.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
In some areas, this shark is considered to be a nuisance because it gets tangled in floating nets while basking on the surface. Occasionally, they have been known to ram small boats, presumably by accident.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
This fish was once used for its liver oil and was thus virtually endangered for some time. It is still used in lesser amounts for fish meal and animal feed.
Conservation Status
No special status.





BASKING SHARKCetorhinus maximus
Go to a Basking Shark Printout
The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is a huge filter feeding shark which grows to be up to about 33 feet (10 m) long. It is the second-largest shark (after the whale shark). The basking shark is also called the sunfish, the bone shark, the elephant shark, the sailfish shark, and the big mouth shark.
GENERAL DESCRIPTIONThis huge, bulky, filter-feeder is grayish brown to black to bluish on the upper surface and off-white or darker on its belly. It has a huge mouth which it uses to collect tiny food that floats in the water. A sluggish swimmer with huge gills and dark, bristle-like gill rakers, it filters its food from the water. The snout is short and conical.
SIZEFemale basking sharks are up to 33 feet (10 m) long; males are up to 30 feet (9 m) long. This enormous shark weighs up to 4 tons. It is the second largest fish in the world; the whale shark is the largest. TEETHBasking sharks have hundreds of teeth (each having a single cusp, curving backwards) but they are tiny and are of little use.
DIET AND FEEDING HABITSBasking sharks are filter feeders that sieve small animals from the water. As the basking shark swims with its mouth open, masses of water filled with prey flow through its mouth. The prey includes plankton, baby fish, and fish eggs. After closing its mouth, the shark uses gill rakers that filter the nourishment from the water. Gill rakers are bristly structures (the thousands of bristles are about 4 inches or 10 cm long) in the shark's mouth that trap the small organisms which the shark then swallows. The water is expelled through the shark's 5 pairs of gill slits. The shark can process over 1500 gallons (6000 liters) of water each hour.
SOCIAL GROUPSBasking sharks travel alone, in pairs, or in schools (groups) of up to 100 members.
HABITATBasking sharks live in coastal temperate waters. They spend most of their time at the surface, hence their nickname the "sunfish."
DISTRIBUTIONBasking sharks are found off the coasts of western North America from Baja to southern Alaska, off the east coast of the US and southern Canada, along the Gulf Stream, to the entire coastline of Europe, off the southern coast of Australia, off South Africa, New Zealand, most of southern South America, the Red Sea, and the coastlines of China and Japan.
SWIMMINGBasking sharks are slow swimmers, going no more than 3 mph (5 kph). They swim by moving their entire bodies from side to side (not just their tails, like some other sharks do).
REPRODUCTIONBasking sharks reach sexual maturity at about 2-4 years old. They mate in the summer off the coasts of Iceland and northern Europe. The gestation period is about 3.5 years. They probably reproduce via aplacental viviparity. Females give birth to 1-2 live young. which are about 5.5 feet (1.7 m) long. These are the largest shark pups.
Like all sharks, fertilization of the eggs occurs within the female. The eggs hatch within the female and are nourished by eating unfertilized eggs in the womb. There is no placenta to nourish the babies - they must fend for themselves, even before birth. They swim away from the mother immediately after birth, there is no maternal care-giving. SHARK ATTACKSBasking sharks are not aggressive and are generally harmless to people. MIGRATIONBasking sharks migrate seasonally, eating in cool northern waters, moving south during the winter. POPULATION COUNTThe number of basking sharks is unknown, but it may be decreasing since the basking shark is hunted for its meat, fins and oil.
BASKING SHARK CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom Animalia (animals)Phylum ChordataSubphylum Vertebrata (vertebrates)Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays)Order LamniformesFamily CetorhinidaeGenus Cetorhinus Species maximus