Andy Ray - Sharks: Fearsome and Fascinating

Sharks

Fearsome and Fascinating

I dedicate this book and give special thanks to my dearest friend Chandrani for being there for me throughout the project.

Thanks Chandrani for everything . This would not have been possible without your incredible support.

And also to my darling wife who stood by me in my trying times and make me believe that I could do it.

A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents.

I also dedicate this book to my wonderful little friends who always wanted to know more about Sharks. Wishing them peace, smiles and safe health.

Is it a fear of the unknown? Are you afraid of sharks even though you dont know much about them? Then you dont really know what you are afraid of. Often, learning more about something and coming to understand it better will make you less afraid.

There are many different kinds of sharks, and many of them are quite different from the others. Some of them are simply beautiful fish, but some definitely look frightening. The huge, menacing teeth combined with strength and massive size can make a shark seem threatening, indeed.

Did you know, though, that many sharks could fit inside of your hand? Not all sharks are menacing; the few that are just get all the attention. You are more likely to die from the flu than you are from a shark attack. Following that logic, you should be more fearful of snotty-nosed kids than you are of sharks.

Sharks are fascinating creatures. Did you know that they have six senses? Do you know what kind of skeletons they have? They dont have bones! Do you know whether they lay eggs or have babies? Do you know that they make Mermaids Purses? There are many interesting things to learn about sharks. Some of them even glow in the dark! Surprisingly sharks are more refreshing than New Socks.

Sharks actually contribute to the health of the ocean. It is important for us to learn about them, because if they go extinct the whole balance of the ocean will be compromised. We shouldnt be too terrified of sharks. We terrorize them much more. Sharks do attack and kill humans, that is true, but humans kill hundreds of millions of sharks. We need to learn more about these amazing creatures, and we need to learn to respect them.

Sharks are fish . The largest fish in the ocean is a shark. The second largest fish in the ocean is a shark too.

If you have seen pictures of sharks, you probably remember huge sea creatures with lots of scary, sharp teeth. Many sharks are big, but most sharks are even smaller than you.

Sharks are different than other fish in a number of ways; they are unique creatures. There are also so many different types of sharks, each of them unique as well. Sharks are fascinating, and they are very fun to learn about.

There are whales that are larger than sharks, but whales are not fish, they are mammals, like humans. Sharks are fish though, and the largest shark is the largest fish in the ocean. It is the whale shark. The whale shark can be over 40 feet long and weigh eighteen tons; that is longer than a school bus and heavier than four big elephants! Whale sharks are called gentle giants because they are slow and not aggressive, even though they have about 15,000 teeth! Divers can actually hold on to the back of the shark and swim along with it!

Sharks can also be tiny, and some will fit inside your hand, even when full-grown. The dwarf shark would fit inside your hand; it is only four inches long! The cat shark is about six inches long, which is the length of a dollar bill. The lantern shark is only slightly larger, at eight inches long. Many people have small sharks in the fish aquariums they keep in their homes.

Sharks are cold blooded. That is something that makes them different than whales. Whales are warm blooded, like we are.

Cold blooded creatures let their body temperature change with their surroundings. If they go somewhere cold, they get colder.

This doesnt bother them, but it sometimes makes them move more slowly. If a cold-blooded creature goes somewhere warmer, then their body temperature goes up, and they dont really notice. Warm blooded creatures always keep about the same body temperature, and they feel cold when they go somewhere cold, and they feel hot when they go somewhere hot.

Sharks are fish, but there are three classifications of fish. Bony fish are what you probably think of when the word fish is mentioned. These are fish with skeletons made of bones- goldfish, salmon, and trout are some examples. Jawless fish is another category. This group includes fish that are long, thin, and have no jaws, such as eels. The third group is cartilaginous fish - wow, thats a good word! Sharks belong to this category, as do sting rays.

Cartilaginous refers to the cartilage skeleton that these fish have, as opposed to a skeleton made of bones. Cartilage is hard and strong, but flexible. Your nose and ears are made of cartilage.

For extra strength, certain places, like the sharks spine, are reinforced with calcium and made even stronger. The calcium builds up in layers. These layers are clues to how old the shark is.

Different types of sharks have different types of teeth, as well as different amounts of them. All sharks, however, have LOTS of teeth; they can have thousands of teeth! They dont just have one set of teeth either; they can have up to fifteen sets of teeth! A single tooth can be as big as your hand.

Shark teeth are not firmly attached in their mouth, and sharks shed their teeth. New teeth quickly replace the lost teeth. Every two weeks, a young shark gets a completely new set of teeth. Adult sharks get a new set two or three times a year. Shark teeth used to be made into arrowheads. Now they are popular souvenirs .

A sharks entire body is even covered in teeth! The skin of a shark is a scaly armor, but the scales are really small teeth. These teeth are called denticles.

Have you ever been licked by a cat? A sharks skin feels rough, like a cats tongue. A sharks skin is so rough that it was once used like sandpaper to smooth wood, before sandpaper was invented.

A sharks skin is a protective covering of tiny teeth, called denticles. Denticles are similar to scales, but they are more like teeth because they have a soft, pulp center, then a hard layer called dentine, and then another hard layer called enamel.