Shark Awareness Day – 14th July
Shark Awareness Day – 14thJuly
July 14 is Shark Awareness Day, a day created to dispel the fear, stigma,myths and misinformation sharks and also to raise awareness about the importance of them to the ocean.
Sharks are one of the oldest species on the planet, with fossil records showing they were in oceans at least 420 million years ago. Modern-day sharks have been around for about 100 million years.
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish with a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. There are more than 400 living species. They vary in size, the largest shark 13.7m to smallest midwater shark and pigmy ribbontailcatshark , 22 to 25cm.
Their most distinctive feature is razor-sharp teeth. Teeth may be serrated or smooth. Sharks can have as many as seven rows of gnashers and go through up to 30,000 of them in their lifetimes. Another key weapon in their hunting arsenal is their capacity to pick up on electromagnetic fields better than any other animal which enable them to seek out their prey, even if hiding or camouflaged.Fin skeletons are elongated and supported with soft and unsegmented rays, filaments of elastic protein. Most sharks have eight fins. Sharks can only drift away from objects directly in front of them because their fins do not allow them to move in the tail-first direction.
Most sharks are carnivorous.Digestion can take a long time. The food moves from the mouth to a J-shaped stomach, where it is stored and initial digestion occurs. Unwanted items may never get past the stomach, and instead the shark either vomits or turns its stomachs inside out and ejects unwanted items from its mouth.
Sharks live all over the world, from warm tropical lagoons to polar seas. Some even inhabit freshwater lakes and rivers.
The young in many species hatch from eggs within the female and are born alive. Other species may lay eggs or nurture their young in the uterus with a placental attachment to the mother.
The vulnerable status of with many species classed as threatened and some even as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As top predators, sharks are vitally important for healthy ecosystems, preventing the populations of other animals from getting too large. A balanced ocean ecosystem means a healthy planet, and sharks are essential to maintaining that balance.
– Source: Internet –