Jaws in Session: Shark Terminology
Most possess 5 to 7 of these slits; while some can pump water over them while resting, open-ocean species must swim constantly to avoid suffocation.
What are Gills?
There are three methods for this:
1. Ovoviviparity (Yolk-Sac Viviparity) - eggs hatch inside the mother for live birth
2. Viviparity - more like mammals with a womb-like structure
3. Oviparity - external eggs (mermaid's purses)
What is Reproduction?
Not all sharks are considered this; many species of sharks are gentle filter-feeders that eat tiny plankton
What is an Apex Predator?
From the lovable Pixar film "Finding Nemo," this shark was affectionately named to pay homage to the finicky mechanical shark in Steven Spielberg's "Jaws"
Who is Bruce?
Sharks tend to bite these things because they look like seals or other routine prey animals. Sharks are actually chill with people, just a bad rap sheet because they can only explore with the daggers in their mouths.
What are Surfers?
Sharks can shed and replace up to 30,000 of these in a lifetime, using multi-row conveyor belt replacement systems and yet, they are not considered bones
What are Shark Teeth?
A physical line of mechanoreceptors running down the shark's flank. It acts as a long-distance radar, picking up water pressure changes and movement from over 800 feet away.
What is the Lateral Line?
This specimen is considered to be a shark despite hunting with its massive mouth open to strain tiny plankton and krill from the water much like some whale species do.
What is a Whale Shark?
In the 1970s, artist for Jaws, Roger Kastel, visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York to find inspiration for the thriller's paperback cover and movie poster. He sketched and photographed this preserved specimen (AMNH 44119), choosing it because of its menacing, jagged rows of teeth.
What is a Shortfin Mako Shark?
Sharks usually only have a handful of natural predators, one of the most well documented are these mammals. I don't know how the f*** they figured out how to body sharks, but some absolutely merc sharks for the love of the game.
What are Dolphins?
Lacking true bone while still being considered a vertebrae, sharks are made up of this skeletal system paired with a massive, oil-rich liver which provides natural buoyancy.
What is Cartilage?
While traditionally a digestive organ, recent research reveals this shark organ acts as a secondary lymphoid organ. It houses organized B-cell follicles that intentionally mutate and mature antibodies to fight off pathogens.
What is the Pancreas?
Many sharks are subjected to torture where their fins are sliced off while they are still alive, and their helpless bodies are thrown back into the ocean to suffocate or bleed out.
What is Finning?
This animated movie from 2004 was originally titled Sharkslayer, but the name was changed because studio executives worried it sounded too dark or violent for families
What is Shark Tale?
Sharks like to eat animals with high body fat contents for maximum calorie intake these specimens are mostly muscle and taste like s***.
What are Humans?
Their skin is covered in microscopic, V-shaped placoid scales that reduce drag and maximize swimming efficiency that can be described to feel like sandpaper.
What is Dermal Denticles?
Taking up to 30% of their total body mass, this massive organ is packed with a low-density oil compound called squalene. Because sharks lack a bony skeleton and a swim bladder, they rely strictly on this oil-rich organ to remain buoyant.
What is the Liver?
While their sense of smell is strong, the myth that they can smell this from a mile away is an extreme exaggeration limited by ocean currents.
What is a Single Drop of Blood?
In this animated TV show, after the shark episode ("The Deepening"), visible shark bites remain permanently dented on the side of this restaurant's soft-serve ice cream machine in every subsequent episode
What is Bob's Burgers?
Sharks have existed since the prehistoric age. Some are older than dinosaurs and even these massive green towers. Why haven't they needed to evolve? Because they're f***ing goated.
What are Trees?
Pores called the ampullae of Lorenzini detect faint electrical impulses emitted by the muscles and heartbeats of living prey.
What is Electroreception?
To compensate for a short, compact body cavity, this features an internal spiral staircase structure it also significantly slows down food passage, forcing maximum nutrient absorption out of single, irregular meals.
What is a Spiral Valve Intestine?
Shark species are incredibly diverse with very different sizes, shapes, habitats, diets and behaviors. There are approximately 500 shark species, but only three are responsible for the majority of all bites.
What is a White, Tiger and Bull Shark?
While visiting the Jaws set, this director playfully put their head inside the mechanical shark's mouth. The crew accidentally triggered the controls, momentarily trapping their head inside.
Who is George Lucas?
This kind of shark is the oldest living shark on record and is still alive today. "Them b****es are practically immortal from our biological understanding of their metabolism."
What is a Greenland Shark?