Ocean Food Webs
Sharks hold this position at the very top of the food chain, meaning they have no natural predators.
What is an apex predator?
This dangerous heavy metal builds up in shark meat over time and can cause severe damage to the human nervous system.
What is mercury (or methylmercury)?
Unlike humans who have bony skeletons, a shark’s entire skeleton is made out of this flexible, lighter material.
What is cartilage?
Human nutritionists love seafood because it is packed with these heart-healthy fats, though shark meat contains too many toxins to safely enjoy them.
What are Omega-3 fatty acids?
TRUE OR MYTH: Boiling or frying a shark fin removes all of the toxic mercury, making it safe to eat.
What is a myth?
These microscopic, plant-like organisms use sunlight to create energy and form the absolute base of the marine food web.
What is phytoplankton?
This term describes how toxins build up and become much more concentrated inside animals higher up on the food chain.
What is biomagnification (or bioaccumulation)?
Sharks continuously shed their teeth, using a dynamic structure that acts like this automated grocery store belt to move new teeth forward.
What is a conveyor belt?
These are the stringy, needle-like protein strands found inside shark fins that give shark fin soup its jelly-like texture.
What are ceratotrichia?
TRUE OR MYTH: Traditional shark fin soup has almost no natural flavor of its own and gets all its taste from chicken or pork broth.
What is true?
This is the percentage of energy that is typically passed up from one level of a food pyramid to the next level.
What is 10 percent?
Because mercury binds tightly to these specific building blocks of muscle tissue, you cannot wash or cook it out of a fish filet.
What are proteins?
Inside a shark, this large, oily organ takes up most of its body cavity and stores energy as fats to help the shark float.
What is the liver?
Unlike whole foods like eggs or chicken, shark fin protein is considered "incomplete" because it entirely lacks this specific essential amino acid required by humans.
What is tryptophan?
Alternative health stores sell shark cartilage pills because of a famous, completely false rumor that sharks never get this disease.
What is cancer?
Even though they are the largest sharks in the ocean, Whale Sharks use this gentle strategy to eat tiny plankton instead of hunting large fish.
What is filter feeding?
Because of high toxin levels, public health agencies warn this specific group of vulnerable people to completely avoid eating shark meat or swordfish.
Who are pregnant women (and young children)?
This uniquely shaped, twisted valve inside a shark's intestine slows down food to help them absorb every possible nutrient.
What is a spiral valve?
This is the name for a type of food labeling trick where cheap, bulk shark meat is secretly renamed and sold to schools as generic "fish fillets."
What is food fraud (or seafood mislabeling)?
TRUE OR MYTH: Eating a bowl of shark fin soup gives humans unique, powerful medical benefits that can heal skin and joints.
What is a myth?
If overfishing removes too many apex sharks, this multi-level ecological collapse can happen, throwing the entire ocean ecosystem out of balance.
What is a trophic cascade?
Sharks also absorb dangerous neurotoxins produced by these massive aquatic bacterial events, often triggered by pollution and warm water.
What are toxic algae blooms (or cyanobacteria blooms)?
While human teeth are anchored into the jaw bone, shark teeth are loosely attached to this layer of tissue, making them easy to lose while hunting.
What is the skin (or gums)?
Sharks keep this chemical waste compound in their blood to survive in salty water, but the exact same compound would cause severe kidney failure in a human.
What is urea?
TRUE OR MYTH: In places like Brazil and the UK, thousands of students have accidentally eaten shark meat at school lunches because it was sold under local nicknames like cação.
What is true?