Shark Fact Files
10 total works
The great white shark gets its name from its white belly. Its back is bluish gray. This countershading helps the shark catch prey by surprise. Fish looking down at a great white see only dark ocean water. Fish looking up see only light from the surface. The great white's body is covered with flat pointed scales called dermal denticles. These scales are packed together tightly. They protect the great white from injury and help it move smoothly through water. The great white can grow to be 21 feet 6.4 meters long but it averages between 12 and 16 feet 3.7 and 4.9 meters.
The tiger shark gets its name from the spots and stripes on its gray body. Its belly is yellowish white in colour. This countershading allows the shark to blend in with the colours of the ocean and sneak up on prey. The tiger shark averages 10 to 14 feet 3 to 4.3 meters in length and weighs up to 1400 pounds 635 kilograms.
Blacktip Reef Sharks live in the Pacific Ocean the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. They prefer to swim in shallow waters around coral reefs lagoons and mangrove forests. They occasionally enter bodies of freshwater. The average Blacktip Reef Shark measures 6 feet 1.8 meters long and weighs up to 100 pounds 45 kilograms.
Hammerhead sharks inhabit the Atlantic Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are also found in the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea. Some hammerheads prefer to swim in deep waters far from shore. Others are found in shallow coastal waters estuaries and lagoons.
