Shark Habitat

Sharks inhabit almost every marine ecosystem, and are distributed throughout all of the world’s oceans. Tropical-water shark species live in areas where the water temperature is greater than 70 degrees Fahrenheit (or 21 degrees Celsius). These sharks include the hammerhead sharks, many of the smoothhound sharks, the wobbegon shark, the nurse shark, the whale shark, the banded catshark, some of the angelsharks, the winghead shark, the whitetip reef shark, the blacktip reef shark, the gray reef shark, the bonnethead shark, the lemon shark and the smalltail shark.

Temperate-water shark species live in areas where the water temperature is between 50 degrees Fahrenheit (or 10 degrees Celsius) and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (or 21 degrees Celsius). Some of the cold-water shark species include the basking shark, the shortfin mako shark, the great white shark, the blue shark, the thresher sharks, the sand tiger sharks, the porbeagle shark, the salmon shark, the piked dogfish shark, the Cuban dogfish shark, the Japanese spurdog shark, the shortspine spurdog shark, the tope shark, the angelsharks, the sawsharks, the bullhead sharks, and the catsharks.

Cold-water shark species live in areas where the water temperature is less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit (or 10 degrees Celsius). Some of the cold-water shark species include the sixgill sharks, the sevengill sharks, the frilled shark, the false catshark shark, the goblin shark, the sleeper sharks, the dogfish sharks, and the roughsharks.

The traditional five senses (hearing, smell, sight, touch, and taste) are well-developed in sharks. Nineteenth century biologists plugged the nasal openings of sharks and observed that they were then unable to find food. They concluded that sharks were “swimming noses”. However, sharks also have electroreception.

Sharks can detect sounds of 10 to 800 hertz (compared to humans which can detect 25 to 16,000 hertz). Shark’s eyes are positioned at the side of their head, which affords them a wider range of vision than humans). Sharks have a keen sense of smell - the maximum distance over which a shark can track a smell is over a mile. Touch and taste are not well understood in sharks.

Sharks are sensitive to weak electric fields, and they detect them sing ampullae of Lorenzini. They are located below the skin in the snout, lips, and behind the eyes. This allows them to detect prey, even if it is hidden in sand.

About the Author
Jacob Maddox manages content for Wildlife Animals http://www.wildlife-animals.com an educational wildlife and animal website. Jacob also guest writes for Dog Pound http://www.dog-pound.net