List 1: Random Important Shark Details List 2: Shark Facts

List 1:
Random Important Shark Details
• A shark is a kind of fish.
• Sharks can be big or small.
• In Hawaii, sharks are revered as reincarnated ancestors.
• Sharks are found in oceans throughout the world.
• Goldfish have a memory span of 3 seconds.
• Jaws was a very popular film.
• The origin of the word “shark” goes back to the German word “shurke,” meaning
“villain.”
• Sharks are loaners – and almost never seek the company of other sharks.
• Many people fear sharks.
• Since the year 1560, the International Shark Attack Files has recorded only 1,5000
instances of actual shark attacks.
• Sharks have many pointed, sharp teeth.
• Sharks lose their teeth, sometimes tens of thousands of them, throughout their lives.
• Thousands of books have been written about sharks.
• Newborn sharks are not cared for by their parents – and often, are eaten alive by the
parent or the other.
• Large manta rays and giant squid are feared by many divers.
• There are over 350 species of sharks throughout the world.
• Some sharks are far larger than others.
• A few sharks weigh under two pounds while some weigh over 5,000 pounds.
• Sharks have been on earth for thousands of years.
• Sharks have few natural enemies.
• Many more people eat sharks than are eaten by sharks.
• If you were on an ocean cruse, you would see many kinds of marine life.
List 2:
Shark Facts
• Bathers have a better chance of winning the Florida Lottery than being bitten by a shark in
the state. *
• All incidents are recorded as a bite, even if it’s a scratch.
• To date, there have been no fatalities on Volusia’s 47 miles of beaches due to sharks. Most
bites are small. However, there have been a few more serious injuries.
• Volusia’s beaches have been labeled the "Shark Capital of the World," but this label does not
take into account the sheer number of people who swim daily without incident.
• An average of 10 million bathers visit Volusia’s beaches each year. Volusia County has more
bather activity than any other beach in the state. * However, the most shark bites recorded in
one year in the County was 22 in 2001.
• Juvenile Black Tip and Spinner sharks cause the majority of bites. These young sharks are
learning to find food and get disoriented when they get into the wave area near the beach.
Once they bite a human, a warm-blooded animal, they quickly realize their mistake and let go.
• The majority of incidents occur near the Ponce DeLeon Inlet and piers, where baitfish are
plentiful. Sharks go to these areas looking for food. Accordingly, these areas provide the best
wave action for surfers.

• Most shark bite victims are surfers who flock to the inlet.
• Beach patrol officers are highly skilled. They are certified as emergency medical technicians,
lifeguards and police officers. The Volusia County Beach Patrol is one of only 36 advanced
lifesaving agencies in the United States.
• Beach lifeguards are trained to look for dangerous marine life and provide warnings, if
needed
List 3:
The history of sharks dates back millions of years. Mankind's fascination with sharks is
a mix of myth and reality, fact and superstition, and it is punctuated with fear of the
unknown. Divers appreciate sharks because sharks are intelligent yet primal predators.
The excitement and adrenaline rush of observing these creatures in their natural
environment keeps divers coming back for more. A little knowledge goes a long way in
making shark diving a wonderful experience. Here are twenty of my favorite shark facts.
1. Great White Sharks grow about 10 inches per year. Great Whites can grow to mature
lengths of 12 to 14 feet.
2. New teeth are constantly being formed in rows in a shark's jaw. Shark's teeth are
normally replaced every eight days.
3. Some species of sharks can shed as many as 30,000 teeth in their lifetime.
4. Whale Sharks have approximately 300 rows of teeth, with hundreds of tiny teeth in each
row.
5. Dried shark skin (shagreen) was used in the past as sandpaper. In Germany and Japan,
sharkskin was used on sword handles for a non-slip grip.
6. In 1937, shark liver oil was discovered to be rich in vitamin A. Sharks were hunted for
the vitamin until 1950, when a synthesizing method was developed for vitamin A.
7. The average life span of a shark is 25 years, but some sharks can live to be 100.
8. The dogfish sharks are named for their tendency to attack their prey as a pack of wild
dogs would.
9. Great White Sharks can go as long as three months without eating.
10. Not all sharks have to be in continuous motion to breathe.
11. Bull Sharks can tolerate a wide range of salinity and are often found in freshwater
rivers and lakes in Africa and South America.
12. More people are killed each year by dogs, pigs and deer than by sharks.
13. The Pygmy Shark has a maximum length of 11 inches.
14. Sharks have no bones. A shark's skeleton is made up of cartilage.
15. There are more than 340 known species of sharks.
16. Sharks first appeared in the fossil record over 400 million years ago.
17. A significant physical trait that separates a modern shark from an ancient shark is the
protrusile jaw, which gives the modern shark more biting force.
18. Sharks can generate about six and a half tons per square inch of biting force.
19. A shark's skin is embedded with dermal denticles, which resemble teeth.
20. The Shortfin Mako shark is probably the fastest fish in the ocean, clocked at about 60
mph

List 4: (Optional)
Common Shark Myths
• MOST SHARKS ARE HARMFUL TO PEOPLE
FALSE: Of the more then 350 shark species, about 80% are unable to hurt people or
rarely encounter people.
• SHARKS MUST ROLL ON THEIR SIDES TO BITE.
FALSE: Sharks attack their prey in whichever way is most convenient, and they can
protrude their jaws to bite prey items in front of their snouts.
• SHARKS EAT CONTINUOUSLY.
FALSE: Sharks eat periodically depending upon their metabolism and the availability
of food. For example, juvenile lemon sharks eat less than 2% of their body
weight per day.
• SHARKS PREFER HUMAN BLOOD.
FALSE: Most sharks don't appear to be especially interested in the blood of
mammals as opposed to fish blood.
• SHARKS ARE NOT DISCRIMINATING EATERS AND SCAVENGE THE SEA.
FALSE: Most sharks prefer to eat certain types of invertebrates, fish and other
animals. Some sharks eat mainly fish. Others eat other sharks or marine
mammals. Some sharks are even plankton-eaters.
• WHALE SHARKS, THE LARGEST SPECIES OF SHARKS, ARE VORACIOUS
PREDATORS.
FALSE: Whale sharks, which are the largest fish that ever lived, are plankton feeders
like the great whales, thus the name.
• THE GREAT WHITE SHARK IS A COMMON, ABUNDANT SPECIES FOUND OFF
MOST BEACHES VISITED BY HUMANS.
FALSE: Great whites are relatively uncommon large predators that prefer cooler
waters. In some parts of their range, great whites are close to being
endangered.
• SHARKS ARE TRASH FISH.
FALSE: Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems, a source for knowledge to
help the human condition, and the basis of a valuable fishery.

• SHARKS ARE NOT FOUND IN FRESHWATER.
FALSE: A specialized osmoregulatory system enables the bull shark to cope with
dramatic changes in salinity -- from the freshwaters of some rivers to the
highly saline waters of the ocean.
• MOST SHARKS CRUISE AT HIGH SPEED WHEN THEY SWIM.
FALSE: Although some sharks may swim at bursts of over 20 knots (23 miles per
hour), most sharks swim very slowly at cruising speeds of less than 5 knots
(5.75 miles per hour).
• SHARKS HAVE PEANUT-SIZED BRAINS AND ARE INCAPABLE OF LEARNING.
FALSE: Sharks' relatively large and complex brains are comparable in size to those
of supposedly more advanced animals like mammals and birds. Sharks also
can be trained.
• SHARK MEAT IS POISONOUS TO PEOPLE.
FALSE: Although there have been some reports of people being poisoned by shark
meat, the meat from the majority of sharks is edible and delicious when
properly handled and prepared.
• ALL SHARKS HAVE TO SWIM CONSTANTLY.
FALSE: Some sharks can respire by pumping water over their gills through opening
and closing their mouths while at rest on the bottom.
• SHARKS HAVE POOR VISION.
FALSE: Sharks' eyes, which are equipped to distinguish colors, employ a lens up to
seven times as powerful as a human's, and some shark species can detect a
light that is as much as ten times dimmer than the dimmest light the average
person can see.
• SHARKS ARE HARD TO KILL.
FALSE:
Stress of capture weakens a shark, and so some sharks are easily killed in
hook-and-line or net fishing.
• A SHARK IS A SHARK IS A SHARK.
FALSE:
There is no "typical" shark. The more than 350 species all differ in habitat,
lifestyle and body form.