Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The thresher sharks have an extreme example of this tail in which the upper lobe has evolved into a weapon for stunning prey. Bottom-dwelling sharks such as catsharks and carpet sharks have tails with long upper lobes and virtually no lower lobe. The upper lobe is held at a very low angle, which sacrifices speed for maneuverability.
Many sharks can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. Sharks have eyelids, but they do not blink because the surrounding water cleans their eyes. To protect their eyes some species have nictitating membranes. This membrane covers the eyes while hunting and when the shark is being attacked.
It is usually greyish-brown, with mottled skin, with the inside of the mouth being white in colour. The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. Other common names include bone shark, elephant shark, sailfish, and sunfish. In Orkney, it is called hoe-mother (contracted homer), meaning "the mother of the piked dogfish". [5]
The bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), also called a bonnet shark or shovelhead, [3] is a small member of the hammerhead shark genus Sphyrna, and part of the family Sphyrnidae.It is an abundant species in the littoral zone of the North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, is the only shark species known to display sexual dimorphism in the morphology of the head, and is the only shark species known to be ...
The Port Jackson shark is a nocturnal species which peaks in activity during the late evening hours before midnight and decreases in activity before sunrise. [2] A study showed that captive and wild individuals displayed similar movement patterns and the sharks' movements were affected by time of day, sex, and sex-specific migrational behaviour.
[12] [13] The thresher shark has a short head and a cone-shaped nose. The mouth is generally small, and the teeth range in size from small to large. [14] By far the largest of the three species is the common thresher, Alopias vulpinus, which may reach a length of 6.1 metres (20 ft) and a mass of over 500 kilograms (1,100 lb).
By rubbing its nose, Neil overstimulates. With his hand close to razor sharp teeth, shark expert Neil Harvey attempts tonic immobility in a large reef shark.
The hammer-like shape of the head means that hammerhead sharks can sweep for prey more effectively. The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, named for the unusual and distinctive form of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a cephalofoil (a T-shape or "hammer"). The shark's eyes are ...