Sharks!
Sophie Everett	  1	  Table of Contents
Chapter 1 What Is a Shark?

3-4

Chapter 2 Shark Senses

5-6

Chapter 3 Where Do Sharks Live?

7-8

Chapter 4 What Do Sharks Eat?

9-10

Chapter 5 Different Kinds of Sharks

11-12

Glossary

13

A Ragged-Tooth Shark	  2	  Chapter 1
WHAT IS A SHARK?
There are over 300 species of sharks worldwide.
Sharks first appeared over 455 million years ago!

Remake of a
Megalodon skeleton

The shark Megalodon is thought to be the largest
shark. They had teeth 6.5 inches long!
Megalodon died out 1.6 million years ago.

STOP	  AND	  THINK	  	  How	  soon	  after	  the	  appearance	  of	  sharks	  did	  Megalodon	  disappear?	  

3	  Sharks are boneless fish. Their skeletons are madeof cartilage which makes them very flexible.
Sharks grow and lose teeth all the time. They arealways teething.

Tiger Shark teeth

Instead of scales, sharks are covered in denticles.
The denticles help sharks move very quickly
through the water.

Denticles underneath amicroscope	  4	  Chapter 2
SHARK SENSES
Sharks have many senses that help them trackdown their prey.
A shark’s sense of smell is very highly focused. Ashark can use this sense to locate bleeding prey.
Sharks have two senses that humans do not.
The first is the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which arelocated on a shark’s head.
The Ampullae allow sharks to sense electricity
made by other animals.

Ampuallae of Lorenzini
pores in a Tiger Sharksnout	  5	  The other sense sharks have that humans do not iscalled a lateral line.
Lateral lines allow sharks to feel vibrations ofeverything moving in the water.
The lateral line system runs down the shark’s entirebody.

A Blue Shark

STOP AND THINK	  What are two senses sharks
have that humans do not?
What do sharks use thesesenses for?

6	  Chapter 3
WHERE DO SHARKS LIVE?

Location of shark species is dark blue.

Sharks are found almost everywhere on Earth.
Almost all sharks are saltwater species.
Sharks live wherever there is a lot of their prey.
Sharks either live in the open water or stay on thebottom of the ocean.	  

7	  Deadliest Places For Shark Attacks

Sharks are most common in warmer waters rightoff of continents.
The most common places for swimmers to beattacked by sharks are often crowded beaches.

The Bull Shark is one of very few sharks that cango in fresh water. Bull Sharks can attack swimmers
in rivers away from oceans.

STOP AND THINK
Why do swimmers get attacked atbeaches?	  

8	  Chapter 4
WHAT DO SHARKS EAT?
Different sharks eat different prey.
Whale Sharks and Basking Sharks eat plankton.

A Basking Shark Eating

Other sharks eat fish, shrimp, squid, turtles, orpenguins.
Different kinds of sharks have different kinds ofteeth because they all eat different food.	  

9	  The Great White Shark eats seals.

It is thought that Great White attacks on humans
happen because the shark thinks the person is aseal!

Sharks get confused	  10	  Chapter 5
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHARKS
There are many different kinds of sharks.
WHALE SHARK
The Whale Shark is the biggest shark in the ocean.
It can be 65 feet long!

It has rows of teeth but it only eats very smallplankton.	  

11	  GREAT WHITE SHARKThe Great White Shark is probably the mostfamous shark because of the movie JAWS.
Great White Sharks grow up to 23-ft long.
The Great White is the shark most people think ofwhen they hear the word, “shark!”

The Great White shark is one of the three kinds ofsharks that are considered the most dangerous.	  

12	  BULL SHARKThe Bull Shark is another shark considered verydangerous.
The Bull Shark can be found in fresh water, such as
rivers or lakes. It can live very close to humans andhas a high attack record.

Bull Sharks eat other sharks, including little BullSharks.
Bull Sharks can grow to around 10-ft long.	  

13	  TIGER SHARKThe Tiger Shark is the third most dangerous shark.
Tiger Sharks will eat anything! This is what makes
them dangerous to humans.
Tiger Sharks have eaten: other tiger sharks, carlicense plates, dogs, turtles, fish, a chicken coop,and deer antlers.
This hasgiven themthenickname,“thegarbage canof the sea.”

Tiger Sharks have stripes that fade away when they
become adults.
Tiger Sharks can grow over 20-ft long.	  

14	  Ragged-Tooth Shark
Ragged-Tooth Sharks live up to their name! Theyhave very jagged teeth.

Although they may look scary, Ragged Tooth
Sharks are fairly calm.
They have never killed a human and only attack
when bothered.
This shark is also known as the Grey Nurse or
Sand Tiger Shark.
Ragged-Tooth sharks can hang in the water bygulping air which is then held in its stomach.	  

15	  SHARK QUIZ
1. Which shark is known as the SandTiger?
2. Which shark can be 65 ft long?
3. Which shark can be found in freshwater?
4. Which shark inspired the movie,JAWS?
5. What shark is known as “thegarbage can of the ocean?”
BONUS!
6. What was the largest shark ever?
1. Ragged-Tooth Shark 2. Whale Shark 3. Bull Shark 4.
Great White Shark 5. Tiger Shark. 6. Megaladon	  16	  Glossary
Denticles: Tiny scales embedded in shark skin.
Cartilage: Rubbery material. Human noses
and ears are made of cartilage.
Ampullae of Lorenzini: Tiny pores that allow
sharks to sense electricity from other animals.
Lateral Line: A series of organs that run
down the sides of a shark’s body. Theseorgans sense vibrations in the water.
Saltwater: Water with salt; ocean water.
Freshwater: Water without salt, water foundin lakes or rivers, not ocean water.
Plankton: Millions of small animals that float
in the ocean.	  

17	  Works Referenced
By Albert kok - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7737291
By Dr. Alton C. Dooley - Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland, CC
BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9883463
By Jlencion at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia toCommons., CC BY-SA 2.5,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=224311
By Pascal Deynat/Odontobase - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15564795
By Pterantula, CC BY 2.5,
Dubowski, C. E. (1998). Shark attack! New York: DK Pub.
By Stefan Kühn, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Feldman, T. (2010). Dive into sharks: Up close and personal. Des Moines, IA:
Meredith.
Gibson, A., & Carter, R. (2002). Sharks. New York: St. Martin's Press.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2242657
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1089942
https://pixabay.com/en/photos/shark
http://shark.ch/Database/Distribution/index.html
http://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/every-shark-attack-ever-recordedcaptured-map/2674734
MacQuitty, M., Greenaway, F., & King, D. (2004). Shark. London: New York	  18	  Common Core State
Standards
2.S.E.2.2 – Discuss how animals are suited to live in
different habitats.
RI.2.2- Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text
as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within thetext.
RI.2.5- Know and use various text features (e.g.,captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes,electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts orinformation in a text efficiently.	  

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