Sharks

Picture of Sharks With close to 400 shark species floating around, you could fill volumes cataloguing their individual food habits. While cookiecutter sharks take nonlethal bites of flesh from their prey and call it a day, great white shark may eat large sea mammals in one big gulp. And certainly the dietary customs of the 8-inch (20-centimeter) dogfish shark vary from that of the 60-foot (20-meter) whale shark, not to mention the different cousins, aunts and uncles in between. All sharks are at least partly carnivorous. They usually consume between 0.5 and 3.0 percent of their body weight each meal since most space their dinners out to every two or three days. Although their bodies are well equipped for catching food, they can't chew well, so they need time to properly digest. Since sharks stand at the top of the aquatic food chain, their diets play an important role in regulating the species below them, much like lions in the jungle. For instance, if large sharks were to die out,...

Shark Tale Under the ocean, Oscar (voice of Will Smith) is a tongue-scrubber at a "whale-wash" and part-time hustler. He wishes for a better life, hoping to swim his way to the top of the fish social ladder, though his coworker Angie (voice of Renee Zellweger) thinks he should be happy with who he is, and tries to subtly drop hints that she's quite taken with him. Meanwhile, great white shark and local crime boss Don Lino (voice of Robert De Niro) is planning to turn his family business over to his two sons, Frankie and Lenny. But Lenny (voice of Jack Black) is harboring some serious issues concerning eating other fish, and the godfather is worried his weak son with reflect poorly on him. Oscar has problems. In debt to his boss Sykes (voice of Martin Scorsese), he soon ends up in hot water. However, fate runs him smack into Frankie and Lenny. During the scuffle, an anchor accidentally kills Frankie and Oscar is mistakenly given credit for the kill. Now a media celebrity f...

Bala Shark The Bala shark, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, also known as the tricolor shark, silver shark, or shark minnow, is a fish species of the family Cyprinidae, and has long been considered the sole member of the genus Balantiocheilos. This species is not a true shark, but is commonly called a "shark" because of its torpedo-shaped body and large fins. Bala sharks are popular aquarium fish. Despite the common name "shark", these fish are generally peaceful and good companions to many other types of tropical fish. However, the Bala shark is an omnivore and will eat other animals if they're small enough to fit in their mouths (including other smaller fish, and shrimp). Shrimp (ghost shrimp, krill, etc.) should have adequate hiding places to keep them from getting eaten. Bala sharks are widely available in most pet stores, but these fish may grow to a size too large for the home aquarium. Very young Bala sharks are sometimes kept in small aquaria. However, give...

Cookie Cutter Shark The Cookie-cutter Shark is named after the cookie-shaped wounds that it leaves on the bodies of larger animals. This species has a small cigar-shaped body (up to about 50 cm in length), a conical snout and two low, spineless dorsal fins positioned posteriorly on the body. It is dark brown dorsally, lighter below, and has a distinct dark collar around the gill region (visible in the middle image). The entire ventral surface, with the exception of the dark collar, is covered in a dense network of tiny photosphore, which in life produce an even greenish glow. The genus name Isistius is derived from Isis, the Egyptian goddess of light. This species has small, erect teeth in the upper jaw and large triangular teeth in the lower jaw. The Cookie-cutter Shark attaches itself to its prey with its suctorial lips, and then spins to cut out a cookie-shaped plug of flesh from the larger animal. Cookie Cutter Shark