The weight of the largest shark in the world. The biggest sharks caught. Sizes of white sharks

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It is known that the world's largest animals are marine life. Their sizes are sometimes truly impressive, reaching dizzying values. Talking about a category like the biggest shark, in the first place you can put whale (Rhincodon typus).

Everyone knows this name, however, not everyone knows that it belongs to two different species of marine individuals at once, which belong to completely different families - southern and northern. Accordingly, southern whale sharks live in the tropics, while giant northern whale sharks live in cold waters.

The size of such a fish reaches 23 meters, and its weight is 20 tons. Thus, only giant whales, which can be attributed to the list, can argue in size with a whale shark. Despite its impressive size and menacing appearance, the biggest shark absolutely not dangerous to humans, because feeds on common plankton, like whales. Adults prefer to filter water near the surface of the ocean, while young ones live at depths.

The whale shark is one of the most calm and peaceful fish: it never attacks, like its bloodthirsty relatives, other marine life - squids, fish, octopuses, dolphins and seals. Scuba divers often come very close to this fish, take pictures, touch and even try to ride it.

The eyes of a whale shark are tiny, while the mouth and gill slits, on the contrary, are huge. Its wide opening of the mouth is equipped with, neither more nor less, 15 thousand small teeth - it stretches from eye to eye. In such a huge mouth, up to five adults could easily fit. The whale shark has a beautiful color; she behaves calmly in the sea space, because she has practically no opponents. A whale shark eats up to 200 kilograms of small crustaceans and plankton a day, pumping up to 350 tons of water through itself. It is interesting that the eggs of this sea inhabitant are the size of a pillow and have the same shape - quadrangular.

A worthy competitor, sharing the first place with the whale shark in terms of its size, is giant shark, or elephant - Cetorhinus maximus(translated means "big sea monster"). More precisely, the elephant shark ranks second after the whale shark, because its maximum length is fifteen meters, and its weight is six tons. Malok who knows that such a huge shark is inferior in size to ... a jellyfish! In America, it was discovered, the length of which turned out to be twice as long as that of an elephant shark, namely - 37 meters... Such truly giant jellyfish belong to, and in some cases even exceed the size of blue whales.

Thus, the first is inferior to the second on average five meters: we are talking, of course, about the largest individuals that are found in single specimens. These huge fish, which have a somewhat extravagant appearance - it's all about the interesting shape of their mouth - today are on the verge of complete extinction, therefore, they are listed in the international Red Book. In natural conditions, elephant sharks are less and less common. The reason for this is poaching, as well as a long period of bearing a shark cub, plus everything - a long period of time for the transition to the sexually mature period.

Those lucky ones who managed to see the elephant shark in its natural habitat, its original appearance will be remembered, for sure, for a lifetime. The most striking and unusual for our perception here is the wide apart shark mouth, which resembles an open bag of incredible size with a cartilaginous frame inside. This is how the giant feeds: with its huge mouth wide open, it plows the vastness of the oceans, collecting, like a seine, all the small marine life inside, which mainly includes plankton and crustaceans. Large gill slits are visible inside the mouth. They perform an important function: each such gill contains more than a thousand gill horny villi, which serve to trap planktonic organisms from the water - all this resembles a giant filter.

In front and in the upper part of the giant mouth, which is slightly elongated vertically (in contrast to the whale shark, in which the mouth gap is open horizontally), there is an elongated nose. In this way, the elephant shark is similar to its predatory counterparts - its harmlessness is betrayed only by the absence of terrible teeth. Why does the elephant shark have such a name? The fact is that some young individuals of this fish have a nose compressed from the sides, which hangs over the mouth like a trunk - the picture is complemented by a head flattened on the sides. All this makes her look like an old elephant with sunken cheeks. Adult giants have practically no resemblance to elephants. Everything else Cetorhinus maximus is no different from an ordinary predatory shark.

Its body is long and dense, the head is large enough, the gill slits are impressive in length, there are two fins on the back - the first, or front, slightly larger than the second, back. One fin on the tail and two in the front of the belly; the tail has an asymmetric shape - the upper part is larger than the lower one. The coloring of an elephant shark is much simpler than that of a whale shark: it has a dark gray color on the back and a slightly lighter shade on the belly. Sometimes you can find individuals that have brown, black and even spotted colors on the back. From a distance, in terms of body shape and color, this fish can be confused with a white shark. The giant's eyes are very small, however, with the help of them, the fish perfectly distinguishes what is happening around it.

From a distance it may seem that the elephant shark has no teeth at all. In fact, they are, but very small - no more than five to six millimeters in length. Of course, this fish simply does not need large teeth. its food is zooplankton, which it filters out with the help of gill stamens. But the stomach of this giant is truly huge: in some of the caught specimens, more than one ton of mass was found in it, consisting of all kinds of marine fines. The elephant shark swims quite slowly - about three to four kilometers per hour, while simultaneously opening its mouth wide, which allows it to pump a truly gigantic amount of water through itself. On average, a shark filters up to five tons of sea "soup" per hour.

Unlike the whale shark, which stays in the upper layers, giant ones often sink to a considerable depth - up to one kilometer. This occurs mainly in winter, when the upper layers of water become poor in food. In summer, "elephants" gather in large flocks of 20-30 individuals and rise higher - they can even be seen from a ship or plane. Giant sharks live in both the northern and southern hemispheres - mainly in cool or temperate waters. The fact is that it is precisely such water that is richest in the aforementioned planktonic organisms, which are not capable of migrating over long distances.

Sometimes the question may arise - how can such giants as, elephant, whale sharks manage to provide for their existence without hunger? After all, plankton are extremely small creatures. The whole point, of course, in the level of concentration of this "food filler" in the water. In fact, sea giants do not have to think about the lack of food, because the total mass of plankton in quantitative proportion exceeds the mass of all other marine inhabitants by a factor of thousands. Therefore, not only today, but also for many years to come, all water giants are 100% provided with food. On top of that, it is worth mentioning the research that was carried out by the Marine Biological Association from Plymouth (in the USA). For three years, she watched twenty giant sharks, each of which was attached to a satellite radio transmitter. Studies have shown that in order to provide themselves with food, elephant sharks are able to swim huge distances, while simultaneously diving to great depths.

In conclusion, you can talk about the ballast of an elephant shark - its giant liver. At the same time allowing the fish to dive freely to a kilometer depth, it is often the subject of fishing for this fish. The fact is that shark liver is very fatty - it is often used to obtain expensive oils, which are then used in perfumery and pharmacology. So, from one individual, you can get up to eight hundred liters of such fat, and from the largest - up to two thousand liters. In total, shark liver makes up about 20 percent of its total weight.

As for predatory individuals, here the world's largest shark- white. In all respects, she is the greatest predator of the sea. The average body length of this fish reaches five meters. The largest representative of this species was a female caught off the Caribbean coast in 1945: her body length was 6.4 meters and her weight was 3.5 tons.

The strength of the white shark's jaws is enormous: it boldly attacks boats with fishermen and smashes them to pieces. There is also evidence that has not been photo-confirmed: in 1930, the team of a Portuguese fishing trawler managed to catch a 12.5 meter long white shark.

Especially for the Imaginarium,
Mila Shurok

There are numerous stories of fishermen around the world about how they saw an incredibly huge predator from the underwater kingdom. Most often, these stories are similar to fairy tales, but you cannot not trust them, because no one knows for sure which giants are hidden from us by the thickness of ocean waters. Scientists studying sharks are seriously puzzled by this issue and have compiled a list of giant underwater predators.

Currently, whale sharks are the leaders. These powerful fish are colossal in size. The body length of a whale shark, on average, is 14 meters. But there are also especially large specimens exceeding 18 meters in length. The largest whale shark known to the scientific world was 20 meters, and its weight reached 34 tons.

But it is worth noting that even with such sizes, these creatures are not dangerous to humans. Their diet consists of small fish and crustaceans. A human encounter with a whale shark is unlikely, since this species of shark prefers to be at a fairly large depth - about 50 meters. But even when meeting a person, the shark does not behave aggressively, which is actively used by diving scientists.

The melancholic behavior of the whale shark allows you to swim close to it and even contact it. But it is worth remembering that an injured whale shark can pose a serious threat not only to humans, but also to small vessels. A single blow of the tail can easily destroy a small vessel.

Giant (giant) shark

This shark species is the second largest shark in the list. The body length of a giant shark is about 10 meters. There is unverified information about giant sharks reaching lengths of 14 meters... The average weight of these sharks fluctuates from 2.5 to 3 tons, and the weight of the largest shark caught is more than 4 tons.

The main diet of the giant shark is also plankton and small crustaceans. This shark species is very passive. For the main part of their waking hours, they move slowly in the waters of the ocean with an open mouth, swallowing plankton. Giant sharks live at a shallow depth, not exceeding 1000 meters, but often swim to the surface. They are not dangerous to humans. They are very popular with divers due to their non-aggressive nature.

The average sizes of these sharks fluctuate 4.5 to 5.5 meters... There are reports of white sharks that are much larger than their average size, but these data are not reliable. Average weight of a great white shark about 2 tons... This species of underwater giants, unlike the first two, is a predator.

The white shark feeds on fish, seabirds, as well as small marine mammals. This type of shark is recognized as the most dangerous in relation to humans, because it is from these bloodthirsty creatures that people periodically die. White sharks are on the verge of extinction; no more than 4 thousand of them remain in nature.

This type of shark is one of the largest, but significantly inferior to the whale and giant shark. The average size of a tiger shark is just over 3 meters weighing in one and a half tons... The tiger shark is a very active and dangerous predator, including for humans.

Preferring to dwell near the surface in coastal waters, this shark loves to swim to the beach area, which means that it often collides with a person. There are known cases of attacks by tiger sharks not only on people, but also on fishing boats. In total, about 200 attacks on a person were registered, but the death toll does not exceed 40.

These massive predators have a body length of about 4 meters and weight not exceeding 3 tons... This shark species lives at a depth of up to 2 thousand meters and feeds on both small fish and crustaceans, as well as giant octopuses and squids. The Pacific shark is also a scavenger, as it does not disdain the corpses of whales. A human encounter with a Pacific polar shark is unlikely; there are currently no recorded cases of attacks on humans.

Its length, on average, is about 5 meters, with weight not more than 500 kg, but individuals are known that reach much larger sizes. The largest known shark of this species had a body length of 6.5 meters and weighed 1.3 tons. The Greenland shark is a predator and prefers mainly fish, rays and eels, but sometimes they hunt pinnipeds, and also do not disdain carrion.

These predators have a colossal lifespan of over 100 years. But, it is worth noting that these sharks do not live long in captivity - they usually die no later than three weeks later. It is believed that the Greenland shark is not aggressive towards humans, but there are reported cases.

These giant predators of the underwater world are long exceeding 5 meters and body weight about 300 kilograms... However, there are recorded data on the capture of fish almost 9 meters long and weighing more than 430 kg. Hammerhead sharks prefer a nomadic and solitary lifestyle, living near surface waters and not sinking deeper than 100 meters. This type of shark, being predatory, preys on fish, rays, fur seals and other, smaller sharks. There are known cases of attacks by a hammerhead shark on representatives of its own species. For humans, they are potentially dangerous, there are registered cases of attacks of these sharks on underwater divers.

The body length of these sharks, taking into account the incredibly long part of the tail fin during measurements, is on the order of 8 meters, and body weight fluctuates around 400 kilograms... This type of shark is found both near the coast and in open waters. The depth of habitation is preferably shallow, but sometimes sea foxes descend almost a kilometer in depth.

Foxes are very active and fast predators. When hunting, they use their long tail fin, stunning and driving their prey. The main diet of foxes is bony fish. The fox shark is afraid of a man, and when he appears, he hastily swims away. Only one fox attack on a person has been recorded, which was deliberately provoked.

To pacify, overcome and kill a fierce predator - at all times this occupation remained the prerogative of real men.

As the most terrible inhabitants of the ocean, it was and remains a symbol of courage, courage and courage.

And although the fight often ended in favor of toothy killers, history has accumulated cases of successful catching of giant fish.

World Record for Giants Caught

The largest shark ever caught by humans was caught in Pakistani waters off Baba Island in 1949. Its length was 12.55 meters and its weight was 20 tons. In girth at the widest point, the body circumference was 7 meters.

She was a giant. Unfortunately, the harpooners killed the fish after selling the carcass piece by piece.

Watch the video - The largest shark caught in the world:

The biggest sharks caught

Also, with the help of a harpoon, or rather, a dozen harpoons, the largest predatory fish in the world was caught - almost 7 meters (not officially recorded).

It happened in the harbor of San Miguel in the Azores in June 1978. While fishing, the White Death actively resisted the fishermen and killed two people - she pushed one into the water and broke the spine with a blow of a powerful body, and bite the other in half.

Photo: fishermen caught a huge white shark

There are cases when it was possible to catch huge fish with a bait. The record for the largest shark caught with a fishing rod belongs to the Australian Elf Dian.

One day in April 1959, a young fisherman went out into the ocean in a small motor boat and caught a man-eating shark on a 58-kilogram steel line off the coast of Sedune.

The weight of the caught predator was 1207 kg, length - 5.13 meters.

Photo of the largest shark caught with a fishing rod

17 years later, in 1976, the record was also broken by Australian Clive Green. He managed to catch a white shark weighing 1537 kg and a length of 5.24 meters.

However, the achievement was not counted by the experts due to the fact that parts of the carcass of a killed whale were used as bait.

The largest still-caught shark is now Okinawa, Japan. A fish 5.5 meters long (whale shark) has not yet reached the size of an adult, but it is already causing a lot of gossip and scandals.

Protectors of nature demand to release a young individual into the wild, because after growing up, living in a confined space, even such a huge one, will be a real torment.

More than 12 thousand kilometers and plunge to a depth of about 900 meters, which no oceanarium can provide.

Watch the video - American caught a monster shark:

The largest hammerhead shark

One of the largest sharks caught was a specimen caught in the United States.

It happened in Florida, just three kilometers from the famous Palm Beach - a resort city for stars, millionaires and other influential people.

Photo: largest hammerhead shark caught

It took 3 hours to pacify the giant hammerhead shark - exactly as long as three fishermen fought with a ferocious fish. The predator measuring 4.27 meters did not want to give up, and even after the forces left her, it was not possible to lift the mighty carcass on board the boat.

Therefore, she had to be towed to the shore, tying her with strong cables.

The prey, weighing 453.6 kg, became the largest shark of this species ever caught by man. And although the fishermen did not want to kill the ocean queen, she died already on the way to the shore.

How to catch the biggest killer shark?

The greatest marine predator in all respects - the great white shark - is huge, even at its average size. 15-year-old males of this shark species reach 4 meters in length, females are larger - about 5 meters.

The news that the largest white shark in the world was caught often accompanies the photos, but the scientific world often refuses to accept them.

Yes - the sharks were caught, yes - they were much larger than the average size for this species, but were the measurements accurate, were there deliberate exaggerations?

Sakhalin fishermen caught a 5-meter white shark:

How was the largest white shark in the world caught?

Most scientists admit only one fact, which they verified, when they caught a large female white shark - in 1945 off the Cuban coast, according to the results of measurements, its length was 6.4 meters, weight - 3.5 tons.

Photo: Largest Caught White Shark

A description of this event, left by one of the participants in the fishing, has survived: on that June day, a group of Cuban fishermen from the town of Kojimar went, as always, to fish.

Six fishermen on two 6-meter boats went into the fishing area at night, long before sunrise.

It was an ordinary day for them, but all the fishermen had some kind of oppressive foreboding.

Having scattered the bait in the hope of catching large blue marlins, for which they could make good money in the market, the fishermen began to wait for the catch.

Several hours passed, but not a single fish was caught - the fishermen called each other, their boats parted tens of meters, driven by the southern current of the Gulf Stream.

At about 9 am the surface of the water was cut by a huge triangular fin - a great white shark headed for the fishermen's boats. Never before had six Cubans seen a shark fin of this size!

The reason why fishing is not going on, immediately became clear - there was a white shark here all the time, scaring the fish away. It was decided - several silk ropes were connected into one, a steel hook was tied to the end with half of the tuna strung on it.

One of the fishermen carefully threw the bait in front of the shark and it swallowed it.

The fishermen understood perfectly well that to hold the rope with their hands - the free end of the rope was securely tied to several wooden rafts intended for catching swordfish.

Several hours passed before the rope holding the shark sagged - the fish headed for the fishermen's boats.

They prepared steel harpoons with wooden shafts and waited for a great white shark - and it attacked, grabbing a wooden keel and rudder, gnawing them into small chips!

Several harpoons were thrust into the shark, but she did not die yet.

The largest white shark in the world was taken to the shore, where it was photographed by a French photojournalist for the newspaper "Le'Monde", who specially arrived from Havana.

Watch the video - A huge man-eating shark was caught in Japan:

Other encounters with great white sharks

According to experienced fishermen, the Cuban white shark is not at all "the biggest" and they have encountered much larger predators.

Of course, they met truly giant white sharks, along with stories about sea snakes, mermaids and man-eating whales, existed at all times.

But in the archival materials there is a short description of one event, indicating that the stories of the navigators may be true.

In 1930, a Portuguese fishing trawler, which went out to catch herring in the area near the western shores of the Azores, in the course of the next trawl haul retrieved the body of a huge white shark on board.

According to sailors, it was the largest white shark in the world, photos of this fish were taken, but they have not survived to this day.

So - the length of that shark, according to the measurements of the sailors, was 34.5 feet or 10.5 meters! This information was not accepted by scientists, since the bodies of the huge fish were not preserved, and it was impossible to determine the exact size and even the type of shark from photographs of that time.

In the entire history of shark fishing, not a single fish caught has exceeded the average shark size. Although it is known that specimens up to 20 meters long and weighing up to 25 tons float in the ocean.

Maybe you can catch at least one of them?

Great sharks are very exciting to watch. On TV, anyway. But if you are in their habitat, then become a potential food source for these ruthless underwater predators.

The good news is that most sharks, and there are 450 species in total, are not large enough to threaten you. The smallest shark is only 17 centimeters in size. However, in the depths of the sea there are monsters and larger ones. And for some of the largest sharks, humans are just lunch.

The color of mako sharks is one of the characteristics that distinguishes them from most of their relatives. The dorsal portion of these sharks can range from a deep purple to a vibrant blue. The sides are silvery and the belly is white.

The main enemies of mako sharks are people who eat their meat. Themselves mako sharks prefer dolphins, squids, mackerels, and sea turtles for lunch. They definitely have a variety of food preferences.

No shark in the world can swim as fast as the mako shark. The speed and distance these creatures can swim are incredible. The constant speed of the Mako shark is 35 km / h, and the fastest is 80 km / h.

These deep-sea predators are distinguished by the following features: they have six pairs of long gill slits on each side of their broad head, comb-like teeth on the lower jaw, and a long tail.

Six-gill sharks live on continental and island shelves in temperate and tropical seas around the world, in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The diet of these sharks includes other sharks, seahorses, many species of large bony fish and invertebrates, including squid and crabs. This shark is also known to eat dead animals such as seals and whales. As for interaction with people, it seems that the predator simply tolerates the presence of bipeds on its territory. Divers regularly observe juvenile sixgill sharks off the Pacific coast of Canada. Sometimes these sharks swim close to divers and even surfers, but without threatening action or physical contact.

Perhaps even more dangerous than the great white, the tiger shark is known to hunt seabirds, dolphins, and other marine life. Often hunting near the coast, at a depth of 6 or even 3 meters, tiger sharks can attack divers. Their attacks are more often fatal to humans than in the case of great white sharks. On average, 3-4 attacks of tiger sharks on humans occur per year.

This shark got its name thanks to the stripes on the body, reminiscent of the color of a tiger skin.

The appearance of this shark with a huge mouth immediately suggests the idea of ​​horror films, where the diver will have a sad ending. However, do not be afraid, despite its appearance, the bigmouth shark feeds on plankton.

Perhaps it was this species that inspired people to create legends about monsters - half-kits, half-sharks.

Pelagic bigmouth sharks are very rare and of no commercial value.

The genus of fox sharks (aka sea foxes) includes three species. The largest of these is Alopias vulpinus. These predatory creatures prefer the open ocean without visiting depths below 500 meters. In the photo, it is not difficult to see the most prominent part of the fox shark - this is the long upper lobe of the caudal fin. Sometimes it is equal in length to the entire body of the shark.

People are much more dangerous to fox sharks than sharks are to humans. These creatures are hunted for their meat, skin, fins (used as a delicacy in soup) and liver.

When people appear nearby, sea foxes get scared and immediately swim away. Although some divers can be stunned by the shark's tail, which it uses as a whip.

Hammerhead sharks are very rare for humans, as they are on the verge of extinction.

This type of shark is distinguished by beautiful fins and a special head shape - strongly flattened, with large outgrowths on the sides. These underwater inhabitants are clearly not among the most beautiful fish.

Although Greenland sharks are usually not aggressive, they are certainly some of the largest sharks on the planet. And it's not worth approaching them without a good reason.

This shark's diet mainly consists of fish and marine mammals, and due to its slowness, it usually does not pose a danger to humans. However, there are stories of Greenland sharks attacking kayaks.

It may not be the largest shark, but it is known as one of the most dangerous animals and the largest predatory fish on Earth. The size of an average adult is 4.4-4.6 meters, and its body weight reaches 520-770 kg. But there is a lot of (unconfirmed) information about huge white sharks. According to her, the largest white shark can reach a length of up to 10 meters.

It is difficult to measure how big a great white shark really is. There are three reasons for this:

1. These predators live in water, and it's not entirely safe to approach them, to put it mildly.
2. Another problem is their incredible speed: great white sharks can reach speeds of up to 56 km / h.
3. The third complication is that the bodies of white sharks are mostly water. Therefore, when they are on land, they dry out and become smaller in size.

It was the great white shark that appeared as the antagonist in the cult film Jaws.

Despite its terrifying name, it is a harmless creature. It feeds not on divers and not even on smaller relatives, but on plankton (tiny animals that can be found near the surface of the water) and small fish.

Their mouths are huge; they can be over 1 meter wide. It would be logical to assume that a shark of this size should have long, sharp teeth, similar to those of a great white or tiger shark. However, the giant shark has only a few rows of small teeth. The large size of their mouth and the small size of their teeth directly match the shark's unexpected diet. In order to feed, giant sharks keep their mouths open while they swim. This is how they collect plankton from the water.

Giant sharks are thermophilic and prefer temperate and warm waters. In addition, they prefer to swim near the shore, near the surface, for which they have earned the nickname "sun fish".

This is the largest living shark in the world. Luckily for most marine life - and us! - the favorite food of the whale shark is plankton. She does not have such sharp teeth as smaller sharks, but their number is very large, and reaches 15 thousand. To eat, the shark opens its heavy jaws and passively filters everything in its path using a special filtering apparatus formed by the gill arches.

Preferring warm waters, whale sharks inhabit all the tropical seas of our planet. They migrate every spring to the continental shelf of Australia's central west coast, where an abundant supply of plankton awaits them.

Despite their enormous size, whale sharks are quite calm and harmless fish. There is even a video on Twitter of a group of divers riding a whale shark.

On the question of what is the largest shark in the world, science currently gives a confident answer - the great whale shark. But it was not always so.

About 20 million years ago, a predator appeared in the world, about which films and books are still being made. Its name is megalodon (Otodus megalodon, formerly known as Carcharodon or Carcharocles megalodon). For 13 million years, a huge shark dominated other living creatures in the oceans until it became extinct just 2.6 million years ago, during a global cooling.

Scientists suggest that the largest specimens of megalodons grew up to 18 meters in length. For comparison: the length of the largest snake in the world reaches 14.8 meters.

Megalodon body size estimates are based on the size of the animal's teeth, which can be up to 18 cm in length. In fact, the word Megalodon simply means "big tooth." It is curious that the teeth of megalodons were found on all continents except Antarctica.

This giant shark ate whales and large fish, possibly other sharks. Its jaw - 2.7 meters by 3.4 meters - was large enough to swallow two adults sitting side by side.

The human bite force is about 1317 Newtons (N), the bite force of the great white shark is 18 211N. Megalodon bite strength ranged from 108,514 to 182.201N.

Most of the reconstructions show the megalodon to look like a great white shark. But scientists say this is not true.

The megalodon probably had a much shorter nose than the great white shark and a more flattened jaw. It had very long pectoral fins to support its gigantic weight and size.

And the ancestor of the modern great white shark lived near the megalodon. Some shark researchers believe they could even compete with each other.

Could a megalodon exist today?

If an animal the size of a megalodon still lived in the oceans, scientists would know about it.

Sharks leave their tell-tale bites on other large marine animals, and their huge teeth continue to litter the ocean floors. Not to mention the fact that being a thermophilic creature, the megalodon will not be able to survive in cold deep waters, where it has a better chance of remaining unnoticed.

The biggest sharks: interesting facts about the largest fish in the world

At the word "shark" the first picture that the imagination obligingly draws is blood-curdling shots from the movie "Jaws". However, in reality, a meeting with a shark in sea waters does not always end tragically. Moreover, some of these grim predators allow divers to approach themselves, calmly take photos and even ... sit on their backs! Yes, surprisingly, but the largest shark in the world never attacks either humans or marine animals, because its food is zooplankton.

Top 5 largest sharks in the world

Whale shark - absolute record holder

This fish is called the whale shark. The dimensions of the huge marine life are amazing: fishermen have come across specimens up to 23 m long and weighing up to 20 tons! This is the undisputed record holder among the inhabitants of the World Ocean in all respects. In this regard, only a whale can compete with her.

The whale shark lives in the tropics - it is a thermophilic creature. She spends all her time, leisurely moving in the water with a wide open mouth, collecting "crops" in it: various small crustaceans and crustaceans, larvae, small fish. She can sleep whenever she pleases, and it will not necessarily be dark. It is believed that ships during their voyage accidentally collide with sleeping sharks, since in the waking state, this fish is able to escape from danger.

Juveniles filter plankton in depth, while older ones prefer to dine closer to the surface. In the mouth of a shark there are up to 15 thousand small teeth, but they do not bite prey with them, but only creates with their help an obstacle that prevents the victims from slipping back into the sea. The size of this mouth is such that it can comfortably accommodate 5 adults.

Whale sharks can dive to a depth of 340 m. After diving, they must necessarily rise to the surface to warm up.

The amount of food consumed by a shark is quite consistent with its size: in one day, it eats 200 kg of plankton. At the same time, the weight of the water that the fish passes through the mouth cavity in order to catch small marine life reaches 350 tons.

Of course, such a giant has no natural enemies, so he can afford to slowly surf the ocean in search of food. His eyesight is colorless. The whale shark can only distinguish between black and white. It is interesting how it protects the eyes: if an object swims too close to the eyes, the shark pulls them into orbit and covers them with its skin.

The giant fish is a viviparous creature. The embryo develops in a special capsule - the egg - in the womb, and fully formed small sharks are born. The supply of nutrients in a newborn is so large that for several days he can easily do without food, being content with the "products" received in the mother's womb.

Whale sharks are long-lived. They live up to 70, and according to some sources - up to 100 years, reaching the age of puberty only by 30 or even 35 years.

Second place - elephant shark

The second largest shark is the giant. It also bears other names: gigantic and elephantine. It is not so much inferior to its "relative" in size: gigantic sharks can grow up to 15 m, while reaching a weight of up to 6 tons. True, a smaller specimen is officially registered: this is an 11-meter fish that weighed 4 tons.

Elephant sharks prefer cool water. They can be found in any of the oceans that wash the Earth.

If everything is clear with the name "gigantic", then the second name begs the question: why suddenly the shark became an elephant? How does it look like a land giant? There really is a similarity, and not only in size. Some young sharks have a snout that sags under its own weight, so that outwardly it resembles the trunk of an elephant.

Just like the whale shark, the gigantic one drifts in the seas and oceans, filtering out plankton. She has many small teeth and huge gill slits. Small crustaceans, jellyfish, krill - everything that moves through the water at shallow depths becomes food.

The only one of all the representatives of the "shark family", the elephant has color vision. She has another interesting distinctive feature: the liver of this shark performs not only the role of a filter for the body, but also the function of a swim bladder. The liver reaches a fairly large size. It has long been used by humans to make oils. Because of this feature, the elephant shark today is on the verge of extinction.

Scientists do not yet have accurate information about the reproduction of giant sharks. Most likely, the development of eggs takes place inside the womb. For 2 years, the shark bears offspring, so the size of this population cannot be quickly restored.

It is worth noting another feature of the elephant shark: it is not only one of the largest, but also one of the oldest cartilaginous fish. About 450 million years ago, elephant sharks were already surfing the ancient ocean.

For humans, neither whale nor elephant sharks are dangerous.

The largest predator is the great white shark

Well, here we got to the hero of horror films - carchardon, or the white death. This is how this formidable mistress of the seas and oceans is called. It is considered the third largest among all sharks and the first among predatory sharks. When this five-meter white-bellied predator, weighing at least 3 tons, overtakes a boat with fishermen, its passengers have little chance of surviving. There are cases when carchardons literally smashed fishing boats to pieces - this is what power they have.

The shark has mastered all the oceans, with the exception of the Arctic. Periodically, predators, gathering in schools, migrate over fairly long distances. The reason for this is still unknown to science. It is believed that the reason may be seasonal migrations of other marine animals that feed on the terrible predator, or mating games.

In search of food, the white shark is able to go 900 m deep. It does not just have very sharp teeth. And also in order to bite off whole pieces at once from the victim's body, shark teeth are also provided with notches.

This fish has a sufficiently developed brain and during the hunt is able to calculate its actions several steps ahead. She does not attack immediately. At first, she tries to swim closer to a potential victim, looks around and for some time can swim nearby with such an air as if she had no thoughts to make an attack. Then she makes a sharp dash, sometimes jumping out of the water to her full height, and the gape-dweller of the seas falls into her mouth. The predator starts the meal after a while. She usually waits for the prey to lose a lot of blood, weaken and cannot resist. Then the shark calmly begins its lunch.

It is interesting that the predatory nature is manifested in sharks already in the earliest childhood. While in the mother's womb, the strongest shark will eat its weak brothers and sisters.

Getting away from an adult shark on the high seas is almost impossible. It has a special sense organ - the so-called Lorenzini ampoules, thanks to which it catches electromagnetic radiation emanating from living beings, at a distance of many kilometers from them, and immediately begins to move towards the goal.

Despite the "evil nature" of white sharks, they rarely fight among themselves. They prefer to resolve the conflicts that arise, simply by intimidating each other in various ways. Now there are only 3,500 great white sharks left on the planet. This species has come to the brink of extinction. In captivity, the white predator almost does not live, refuses the offered food and dies. Therefore, it is very difficult to restore the population of the genus.

Tiger in the sea

The fourth largest shark and the second largest predator of these cartilaginous fish is the tiger shark.

In their youth, these sharks have stripes on their backs, reminiscent of the "pattern" on the skin of a tiger. That is why they got this name. With the onset of maturity, the stripes fade and blur, and the color becomes dark gray.

Tiger sharks love warmth. They live in the waters of the tropics and subtropics. Their dimensions are impressive: there are known specimens that have grown to 4 m, and the weight of others reaches 600 kg.

The tiger shark is considered one of the most dangerous to humans. It is suitable for very close distances to the coast - to beaches, ports, bays. Therefore, an ordinary bather swimming in coastal waters can become a victim of a tiger shark.

Tigers prefer to hunt in the dark. They attack, not really understanding what exactly went to lunch today. Therefore, in the stomachs of the caught predators, not only fish and sea animals are found, but also some rags, car tires, whole corpses of small land dwellers. Once in the womb of a shark, a practically intact horse's head was found. This predator does not disdain carrion either. What explains such promiscuity? The fact is that a shark is able from time to time to turn its own stomach out and rinse it in the sea. By doing this trick, she returns the cleansed stomach to its place, and thus avoids diseases caused by the presence of inedible objects.

Tiger sharks cannot be called centenarians. They live to be about 12 years old. The process of reproduction of their own kind in them is rather painful: the male grabs the female with his teeth by the fins and holds her during fertilization. The wounds received by the female can be so serious that even her death is possible.

80 or 100 sharks are born at once. Their mother loses her appetite as she prepares for childbirth. Apparently, nature has foreseen this in order to avoid the shark eating its own newborn cubs.

Pacific polar shark

The fifth largest shark is the Pacific polar shark. This cartilaginous fish, reaching a length of 4.3 m and weighing up to 450 kg, has chosen exclusively the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean. Only in cold water (no warmer than 4 ° C) does it feel comfortable. At the same time, the shark maintains body temperature several degrees higher than the ambient temperature. For this, she is always in motion.

The giant fish swims slowly, absorbing everything that gets in its way: jellyfish, shellfish, squid, even algae. Having eaten properly, she puts some of the food in a special pocket of the stomach - for a "rainy day".

Representatives of the northern peoples have long hunted Pacific sharks. However, it is not so easy to prepare an edible dish from it: the meat of this predator is poisonous for all warm-blooded animals. It becomes usable only after repeated heat treatment or long-term storage in the ground.

Little is known about the Pacific polar shark so far. Even the way it reproduces remains a mystery. There is only data on the lifespan of the northern predator - up to 50 years.

These are amazing creatures that inhabit the depths of the seas and oceans of the Earth. They mastered the planet long before the appearance of human ancestors, and we must do everything in our power to preserve this population and not disrupt the fragile chain of life. After all, the breakage of any of the links threatens a catastrophe, the consequences of which are unpredictable.