Predator in the Ocean

Sharks are aquatic creatures and very important to the living with lots of information humans may not understand. To start off, femeles give birth to 7-9 sharks per litter that are 3-4 feet at birth. Next humans believe all sharks are monsters but out of 400 species only 4 sharks have been claimed to attack on humans. Lastly sharks attack for 2 main reasons one reason is for defense and predation. They attack in defense when humans are in or around their territory they attack in predation mistaking people for seals. In conclusion sharks are creatures that humans are still learning about and try to understand them better.

Firstly, if sharks numbers drastically decline then it will throw the food chain out of whack. Sharks eat the big fish, who in turn eat the smaller fish, which eat the smaller fish which eat the algae. If sharks were to become extinct then certain marine groups would overpopulate which would endanger a large number of other marine species making them either very rare or even extinct. “According to one study, without sharks the number of mid-level predators will increase many fold. These mid-level carnivores will eat most of the algae eaters. As a result, the seas will be choked with algae and its excretions. The water will become slimy. Sunlight penetration will be reduced. It will decrease coral reefs very soon. So, many thousands of dependent species will also go extinct.” (All Five Oceans, 2016) For example, do you like to eat shrimps, oysters or crabs? Because if shark culling continues then these species will become almost extinct. This is because sharks feed on rays who are the main feeders of these foods, if sharks become extinct then rays will overpopulate and with so many rays feeding on these foods then they will become rare and maybe even extinct.

Sharks have been in our oceans for almost 450 million years. Those millions of years of evolution have allowed many different shark species to develop abilities, and to become perfect predators.

Every Jaws fan knows the shark gets it in the end. What they do not know is that too many sharks have gotten it; and that has caused a rapid decline in the shark population over the past thirty years. Since the 1970's, sharks of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shores have declined eighty-five percent. Sharks are vital animal to our world's ecosystem, and if the decline is not controlled; we could be facing devastating problems in years to come. Information has been obtained from two books: The Shark Almanac by Thomas B. Allen and Sharks, An Introduction for the Amateur Naturalist by Sanford A. Moss. Sources also include a number of online references, among them BBC News, ENS News, The New York Times, and two online scientific

Adapted for a wide range of aquatic habitats, various shark species inhabit shallow coastal habitats, deep-water ocean floor habitats, and the open ocean. With a wide selection to feed off of, as a whole the shark species feed on just about everything. Their diet consists of fish,

Sharks are one of the oceans top predators. They vary in size from the extremely small dwarf shark, to the colossal whale shark. Sharks can be found all across the world’s oceans, from the tropic waters of Hawaii to the sub zero temperatures in the Artic oceans. Of the hundreds of sharks a select few species have actually been recorded in the Artic. Of these few, only three of them spend the majority of their time in these harsh, freezing waters. These sharks are the Greenland, Pacific Sleeper, and Salmon sharks.

The Shark’s place in the marine ecosystem is as a predator at the top of the food chain as there is no natural predator of sharks. Sharks are not very fastidious about what they eat but their diet generally consists of seal, crab, squid, lobster and fish. If sharks were to become extinct there would be an ecological cost. The marine life that is the shark’s food source would start to overpopulate with nothing to prey on it. One possible reason that sharks are coming closer to shores is that their natural food source is diminishing due to overfishing by humans. To stop sharks from being too near to popular swimming locations, fishermen need to expand or change their hunting areas.

The Great White Shark is the top predator of the ocean, meaning that it is not hunted by other animals in the waters. The Great White has been listed as an endangered species due to the over hunting of them for shark teeth and there fins.

The cause of this debate comes with the return of White Sharks to the area. Over the past few years, there has been an increase of this apex predator to our coasts like never before seen, most notably since Labor Day weekend in 2009. Five sharks had been tagged by a marine biologist, Greg Skomal, and have been closely tracked and documented since. Skomal is a key player in this research as project leader

Marine waters cover approximately four-fifths of the surface of the Earth. Such places are considered as an ecosystem because the plant life supports the animal life and vice versa. Marine ecosystems usually have quite a large biodiversity and are therefore thought to have a good resistance against invasive/introduced species. Sharks play a very important role in the oceans in a way that an average fish does not/can not. Sharks are at the top of the food chain and/or food web in virtually every single part of every ocean (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern). Sharks keep the populations of other fish healthy and in proper proportion for the marine ecosystem; therefore if the shark population keeps decreasing there would be overpopulating species of fish and other food consumed by sharks. This could then lead on to cause many problems to the plant life as well, as some omnivorous animals may be forced to have a diet of strictly plants, which

Sharks have been around longer than any human. They are descendants of the dinosaurs that have survived what so many could not. If this versatile animal does not make it to the years ahead, then the earth is in for dire times. Sharks are an indicator about the state of well being of the ocean. If sharks are spotted in a particular area of the ocean we then know that this area of the ocean is healthy. Whereas areas where there are no sharks, the water usually unsuitable for most aquatic creatures.

Shark finning is popular in asia. They cut the fin off of the shark, and then throw the shark back in the water. Since sharks are being killed for just the fin, there are bans against finning. People also started just killing them after the movie Jaws came out(8). It pictured a Great White shark attacking people viciously. It upset people because it was based on a true story, but in the actual occurrence it was a bull shark that attacked the people not the Great White(8). There are many shark sanctuaries set up in the ocean to protect them. They can go there and live without having to worry if they will get caught in a net or get their fins cut off. In many countries there are bans on Great White Shark products. There are many projects in effect for protecting Great White Sharks(Institution, Smithsonian). Great white sharks are illegal to hunt because they are endangered. They also have a short life span of about sixty years, but very few make it to even thirty. There are many signs that say the great white population is increasing slowly but steadily(Institution,

Donohue, Patrick and Log, Destin. “Sharks 101.” State and Regional Newspaper, 7 September. 2006. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 28 May. 2016.

Sharks are one of the most feared carnivores in the sea. There are 365 species of of sharks in the sea as we know today. All sharks are carnivores. Most of them eat live fish, including other sharks. A shark's most common natural enemy is an another shark. Most sharks eat their prey whole, or they tear off large chunks of the bodies. Some sharks crush their prey. Others take out small pieces off flesh from large fish. Sharks also feed on dead or dying animals. Sharks have the reputation of attacking human beings. But less than 100 shark attacks a year are reported throughout the world. Sharks are most common in warm seas and oceans. Whale sharks, are the largest shark known to man. Sharks are classified in the order

II Over the years there has been a huge drop in the population of sharks, because of the popularity of Shark fin soup in china, and this can later on lead to the ocean ecosystem to be disrupted, if sharks are extinct.