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Unlike bony fish, the sharks have a complex dermal corset made of flexible collagenous fibers and arranged as a helical network surrounding their body. [22] This works as an outer skeleton, providing attachment for their swimming muscles and thus saving energy. A similar arrangement of collagen fibers has been discovered in dolphins and squid ...
This gives these areas much of the same strength found in the bony tissue found in other animals. Generally sharks have only one layer of tesserae, but the jaws of large specimens, such as the bull shark, tiger shark, and the great white shark, have two to three layers or more, depending on body size.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sharks: Sharks (superorder Selachimorpha) are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 440 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs. [1]
The entire body of a shark is a very efficient eating machine. Each organ has been fine-tuned for hunting and acquiring food. Sharks are built to feed: Here's why they are the ultimate eating machines
Cartilaginous fish, such as sharks and rays, have jaws and skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone. Megalodon is an extinct species of shark that lived about 28 to 1.5 Ma. It looked much like a stocky version of the great white shark , but was much larger with fossil lengths reaching 20.3 metres (67 ft). [ 10 ]
Most batoids have a flat, disk-like body, with the exception of the guitarfishes and sawfishes, while most sharks have a spindle-shaped body. Many species of batoid have developed their pectoral fins into broad flat wing-like appendages. The anal fin is absent. The eyes and spiracles are located on top of the head.
Epaulette sharks have nocturnal habits and frequent shallow water on coral reefs or in tidal pools. This shark has evolved to cope with the severe night time oxygen depletion ( hypoxia ) in isolated tidal pools by increasing the blood supply to its brain and selectively shutting down non-essential neural functions.
Osteichthyes (bone-fish) or bony fishes are a taxonomic group of fish that have bone, as opposed to cartilaginous skeletons. The vast majority of fish are osteichthyans, which is an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of 45 orders, with over 435 families and 28,000 species. [ 21 ]