Sharks are the kings of the sea. As terrifying as fascinating. There are not a few who fear being on the high seas and being attacked by a shark, or even going by boat in case something happens to them and there is a shark nearby…
Possibly, if they all knew what sharks really eat, they wouldn’t be so scared. Why not… sharks don’t eat people (except for very specific exceptions) and attacks on people… same thing. Obviously, there are sharks that do attack (because there are many kinds of sharks) but most of them do it for specific reasons.
They are very intelligent animals. In fact, if at a certain moment they cannot eat and cannot find food, they compensate their diet so as not to go hungry
Sharks basically eat fish, everything that is aquatic animals. Mollusks, squid, crabs, clams, lobster…. But it will depend on where they live (in which seas/oceans) they are, to eat one type of fish or another.
Among the multitude of species of sharks that exist or are registered, which are about four hundred and odd of different species, each one will have one type or another of predilection depending on what lives where they are.
There are sharks that are not carnivorous and generally live at the bottom of the sea. They are small sharks, or not as huge as others of their kind. They feed on mollusks, clams, turtles, octopuses… whatever they find in those places and at the moment.
Tiger sharks and great white sharks, for example, eat larger animals such as seals, dolphins, porpoises, and sea lions… marine mammals in short.
You have to be careful with what is wasted in the sea, what is thrown into the water and the sea… because sharks can eat anything, such as oil, coal, waste…
They are not animals that eat large amounts of food. It is mistakenly believed that, being so bulky, weighing so many kilos and so on, they eat a lot. And nothing is further from reality. They only consume 2% of their weight. You can get an idea.
There are species of sharks that, on the contrary, what they do is eat at one time, what they should eat in a whole week, in months… and even what they need to eat in a whole year!
Instructions
- They survive only with the oil that they can have stored in the liver and until they run out, they have no need to eat again.
- They don’t eat as much as we might mistakenly imagine because they are cold water fish/animals. This means that they have slow circulation and therefore burn energy slowly and do not need to eat more than they spend.
- They have a highly developed sense of smell. Hence, they are perfect hunters.
- Sharks have huge jaws. Its great main feature, that the jaw and teeth make them able to eat almost anything. The jaw is very strong and thanks to its row of teeth, they can cut the meat; reach the bone, cut it…
- When sharks eat, they move the food/meat from side to side. It seems at first glance that they are not being able to eat well, that they have problems chewing, that they cannot eat well… but nothing is further from the truth. It’s the opposite. They eat this way and no, they don’t have any kind of problem.
- They are cold-blooded and, unlike other types of fish, have a very high concentration of urea and trim ethylamine oxide.
- They are animals that adapt very well to their environment and care must be taken (as is well feared) that they smell blood. They are extremely susceptible to it, hence many of the attacks they carry out.
What do you need:
Depending on which shark family it belongs to and its size, they feed on small fish.
- Squid, mussels, clams, octopus…
The larger ones feed on marine mammals.
- Such as sea seals, seals, dolphins, etc.
The little ones can only feed on:
- Plankton, krill or small mollusks that you find in your path.
Tips
There are sharks that only reach 76 centimeters and there are those that are huge, like the white shark, which can reach 6.5 meters in length.
Sharks are fish with a cartilaginous body and their teeth make them different. Did you know that if a tooth falls out they recover super-fast? They are animals endowed with a good sense of smell and wonderful eyesight. They always tend to be in cold waters and avoid being above the surface as much as possible.
When they eat, what they do is attack their prey. Once she’s stunned, that’s when she starts to bite into it and it seems like she might have a hard time because of the exaggerated side-to-side movements. But nothing to do with what they really do, which is nothing more than eating normally.
The ones that are large, the huge ones, if they can eat everything and basically, everything that they find in their path. If they are very hungry, they can be more dangerous and always avoid blood in the water because they are very sensitive to it.
You have to stop fooling around and put the shark always, with the image of a terrifying animal that eats people… that has caused real havoc in society, appearing with that image that they always put on this animal in the movies.
In the event that, for any type of circumstance, it were the case that you find yourself in the sea with a shark, because it can happen in some seas and above all it happens to people who practice many water sports such as scuba diving or surf. In any case, if you see it, get away from there as soon as you can. But if it passes very close, don’t move; don’t start screaming, kicking or hitting in or out of the water. Movements in the water draw their attention and they have incredible visual agility. So don’t move and it will pass you by? Always avoid having wounds, cuts, etc. Cover it immediately and get out of the water.
And if they appear stranded on the shore, it is because they have drifted due to the tides, following a ship, following schools of fish because they are hungry or sick. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more common to be able to see small sharks on the shores of the sea every summer… out of ignorance and astonishment, bathers begin to be photographed with them, touch them, look at them closely… and there are not a few who end up injured for the animal.
What should never be done is to get closer than it should be, when we do it, they feel in danger, therefore, it is more than normal that they try to defend themselves and do it as best they can. Do not do it, generally, they are always sick and go there because they are dying and that is how the vast majority end up, except for those who have been lost disoriented by ships or tides. In that case, with the right help, they will return to the high seas.
In some countries, if you like these animals, and you would like to be able to be in the sea with them and even see them up close and see how they eat, they go on excursions and programs where you can put yourself in a cage, they will lower you to the bottom of the sea and you can see them very close, so close that you could almost touch them. You will see them eat a foot from your face. But you decide if you dare and want to contemplate it or if you have that adrenaline rush, but you don’t want to risk it.
