The great white shark is a powerful beast. Even so, it has its fair share of enemies and freak accidents. Humans remain a constant danger, but there are times when sharks get themselves into trouble. They choke on chow, jump into boats, and botch hunts.

Sometimes, they have little control over what preys on them. There is a mysterious brain fungus, and orcas treat them like a snack. The lucky few encounter the good side of people—when the public and experts do everything they can to rescue a shark that came in second.

10 Mother Of 14

Early in 2019, a pregnant white was caught under mysterious circumstances near Taiwan. The fishermen claimed that it was an accident, but she produced a sizable profit at the local market. A taxidermy company bought the carcass for nearly $2,000.

While she was being sliced open at the fish market, the butcher pulled 14 pups from her two wombs. This was a record for the species. The mother herself was a looker. At over 4.7 meters (15 ft) long, the enormous specimen was very close to giving birth when she was caught.^[1]

For scientists, the capture was bittersweet. Great whites are classed as a vulnerable species, and the loss of a pregnant female is a big one. But the rarity of the catch, a pregnant great white, was worth its weight in gold for research. The photographs that documented the mother and the pups provided material to study, especially on the condition and feeding habits of the young. (They ate unfertilized eggs in the wombs.)

9 The Failed Hunt

In 2015, a great white felt like having seagull for lunch. It noticed such a bird sitting on the sand at Cape Cod. Delighted, the shark made a rush for it and promptly beached itself.

Shocked beachgoers watched the 2-meter-long (6.6 ft) predator sail into trouble. It got stuck in a shallow puddle where sympathetic individuals applied CPR from a distance, so to speak.

Great whites must filter water through their gills constantly. They do this to breathe the oxygen in seawater. Thanks to a bucket line, the shark was repeatedly doused by volunteers. Although it kept breathing, the juvenile male only had a limited amount of time to survive this way. Luckily, the harbormaster arrived before it was too late and towed the youngster back out to the sea.

A marine biologist happened to be nearby when the animal beached. Before it was released, the man tagged the shark with a tracking device. It may have missed out on lunch, but at least the shark encountered a rescue mob and will now do his bit for science.^[2]

8 Mysterious Infection

Shark strandings are often a seasonal thing. However, in the last few years, so many sharks perished that researchers knew something was terribly wrong. Mark Okihiro, a California fish pathologist and shark death expert, examined hundreds of sharks from different species. Most of the mysterious deaths pointed to a brain infection, something unheard-of in sharks a few years ago.

In 2017, a great white shark landed on Okihiro’s table. Beachgoers noticed the young shark in shallow water near Santa Cruz. They put it back in deeper water, but the animal was clearly disoriented and died shortly afterward.

Okihiro found that an infection had caused a fatal brain hemorrhage. By then, the researcher expected to find signs of meningitis. Displaying similar symptoms, the previous sharks were determined to have died from the meningitis-causing Carnobacterium. But there was no sign of it in the great white.^[3]

Soon, hundreds of sharks of different species died the same way in San Francisco Bay. Eventually, Okihiro identified a fungus as the killer. However, the exact nature of the fungus and why it is so deadly to sharks remain elusive.

7 Fatal Exhibition

In 2016, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium gave in to nagging visitors. Located in Japan, the aquarium had received persistent requests to display a great white shark. When a shark was accidentally netted near the southwest coast, the institution took it home.

The great white shark is not a goldfish. It is an exceptionally difficult species to maintain in a captive environment. It needs to be constantly on the move to harvest oxygen from the water and to regulate its body temperature.

The aquarium proudly announced that it was successfully keeping the 3.5-meter (11.5 ft) male alive. Three days later, he was dead. The shark had refused all food since its capture. Even so, it appeared healthy and cruised around with the aquarium’s other sharks.

At one point, the male suffered some sort of collapse, sinking to the bottom of the tank. He passed away after the staff tried to resuscitate him with oxygen. The aquarium said they would investigate the cause of death, but activists were certain that the stress of the capture and captivity was too much for the shark.^[4]

6 The Turtle Incident

In 2019, a fisherman heard his fellow catchers joke over the radio about a shark. They said it was swimming around with a giant turtle in its mouth and could not spit it out.

At first, Greg Vella did not take them seriously. He continued with his job as a tuna wrangler near Japan. However, the following day, he saw the evidence for himself. Caught in some netting was a large great white. Inside the predator’s mouth was a giant turtle.

By this time, the shark was dead, having apparently choked on its awkward meal. There was also a chance that the great white had died for another reason. Feeling ill, it may have regurgitated the last thing it ate. It was not clear what had happened, but the incident was uncommon.

Turtles of this size are big because they are survival experts. Normally, sharks avoid them. For the persistent predators, turtles have a special maneuver—turning themselves in such a way that their shells make for an impossible swallow. Yet this one got chowed. Kudos to the shark, but it may have ended both their lives.^[5]

5 A Shark Called Fluffy

In 2017, a shark went on an adventure. Unintentionally perhaps, but the juvenile great white surely experienced a unique trip. It involved rocks, an ocean pool, an aquarium tank, and a boat ride.

In September, the 1.8-meter-long (5.9 ft) predator was found thrashing on the rocks on Manly Beach in Sydney. Experts from Manly Sea Life Sanctuary decided to move him to a nearby ocean pool. This was to allow the shark to recover from its stranding ordeal.

While there, the sanctuary’s life science manager jokingly told some kids that the predator’s name was “Fluffy.” A lot of people were present to hear it, and the name stuck.^[6]

After resting for a few hours, Fluffy spent the night at the aquarium. He was not alone. Throughout the night, divers remained in his tank to make sure that he did not injure himself in the confined space. The next day, the shark enjoyed a boat ride into deeper waters to lessen his chances of stranding again.

4 The Boat Breach

In 2017, Terry Selwood planned to fish for snapper off the north coast of New South Wales, Australia. Instead, a great white shark jumped into his boat. The creature’s fin brushed against Selwood’s arm and tore off the skin. Small surprise as sharkskin consists of scales that look like tiny teeth. The shark also reportedly knocked him over.

It was not a pleasant experience for the predator, either. It was around 3 meters (9 ft) long, while the boat was scarcely bigger. The shark was stuck and eventually died. After Selwood was picked up by marine rescue, the great white had to be removed with a forklift.

Shark experts said the jump was not an attack on Selwood. The leaps seen on documentaries are provoked. The filmmakers drag meat at high speed to get the sharks to leap.

Selwood himself was not in the water. He claimed that no fish were near the surface, the only reason that sharks typically breach. It might have followed Selwood’s bait. Two other explanations include jumping in for an unknown reason or being hooked and reeled in like a regular fish. Without a necropsy (animal autopsy), this incredibly rare incident might never be explained.^[7]

3 Orcas Snack On Them

Great white sharks are mighty predators, but they quickly clear out when killer whales arrive. The reason is grisly. Orcas love to snack on shark livers. This behavior has been recorded off the coast of Australia and San Francisco. Both species also live off the western coast of South Africa. In 2017, three great whites were found on the beach there within four days.

Necropsies showed that their livers were gone. A few weeks later, a fourth shark was found in the area minus its liver, stomach, and testes. It was a big guy, measuring 4 meters (13 ft) long. Like the others, he had been eviscerated and left for dead by another predator.

Although nobody had witnessed the killings, the wounds and the short time between the deaths are consistent with orca predation. There are reasons why a shark’s liver is a delicacy. First, the thing is enormous. Second, it is packed with fat. This nutrient-rich liver is like an energy bomb and could be why orcas love it. Killer whales have a high metabolism and need dense nutrition to function.^[8]

2 The Australian Disappearance

Researchers attached a tag to a great white in 2003. Then the female was released near southwestern Australia. The tag was meant to record depths and temperatures. In 2014, it was found on the beach 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) away from where it was originally attached to the shark.

The shark was gone. When the data was reviewed, it suggested a dramatic incident. Around four months after the tag was attached, the shark made a sudden dive. She reached a depth of 580 meters (1,903 ft). The temperature shot up from 8 degrees Celsius (46 °F) to 26 degrees Celsius (78 °F).

Clearly, the shark’s abrupt downward move was an attempt to flee something. The rise in temperature was likely the stomach temperature of whatever was brave enough to eat the almost 3-meter-long (9 ft) great white.

Although she could have been cannibalized by another great white, the culprit was probably a killer whale. An orca is the only other predator that could kill a great white, and an orca’s stomach temperature matched the tag’s records. A shark’s temperature would have been cooler.^[9]

1 Beer Can Beach Shooting

In 2018, a shark was found on California’s Beer Can Beach. At first, the reason for the 2.7-meter-long (9 ft) predator’s death was unclear. In fact, a news crew reported that the great white appeared uninjured.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) did a necropsy and found .22-caliber bullets inside the animal. The wounds were not obvious, but one bullet had severed the spinal cord and killed the shark.

California law requires a special permit to hunt this vulnerable species. Since that had not been done, CDFW opened a criminal investigation. A few days later, an anonymous tip named the commercial fisherman who had shot the shark.

Investigators followed the advice on where to find the boat. During an inspection, they found several fishing violations on board. When questioned, Vinh Pham blamed another crew member for the shooting, but officers found the firearm in Pham’s truck. Tests matched the bullets to the rifle.

Eventually, Pham confessed. His reason for shooting the shark? It annoyed him that the creature had swum too close to his nets. Pham was convicted in 2019, fined $5,000, and placed on probation for two years.^[10]

Ever since Jaws hit theaters, folks have feared stepping into the water for fear of becoming a giant fish’s snack. The book and films paint sharks as evil killing machines, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Sharks rarely harm people, and they don’t ride around in tornadoes as much as people think. Still, there are tons of misconceptions about nature’s most efficient killing machines, and these ten are easily the most widespread.

10 Facts That Will Change How You View Sharks

10 Sharks Are Nature’s Most Efficient Killing Machines

Don’t let the title fool you; sharks arent nature’s best killer. That honor doesn’t even belong to the vertebrates! Viral organisms have held that particular trophy on their collective mantles for as long as they’ve been hopping rides in animals’ bodies only to return the favor by killing them.

To be fair, many sharks are efficient predators, but that doesn’t make them nature’s most efficient killers. Many sharks are intelligent and calculating — they stalk their prey in the same way a pride of lions might plan a hunt.

They wait patiently for the perfect moment to strike, which is why you often see sharks swimming peacefully around their potential “food.” Sharks that hunt their prey often rely on surprise and will abort their attempt if that advantage is lost.

Of course, this only applies to some shark species, and there are probably more than you might know. More than 500 species of shark have been identified, and some are more efficient at hunting than others. Many species are far less discerning and will attempt to eat anything they come across.

9 Sharks Are Maneaters

Sharks are scary because they look terrifying. Add to that the fact that they are often unseen when they attack people, and you have nothing short of terror on everyone’s minds when one is sighted. Because of this and movies that capitalize on fear, sharks have been labeled as “maneaters.”

The vast majority of sharks spend their entire lives without ever seeing a human. Think about it for a second — Earth’s oceans are enormous, and most people only venture into the waters along coastlines, leaving a massive space for sharks to swim without seeing people.

The vast majority of shark species are opportunistic feeders that primarily eat small fish and invertebrates. Only around 12 species have been involved in attacks on people. When it does happen, it’s usually due to the shark mistaking a human for something else.

Granted, when a shark bite does occur, it’s serious. Just a little chomp is enough to cause massive tissue damage, the mangling of limbs, and death if not treated right away. The seriousness of these incidents helps give rise to the “maneater” myth, but in the end, that’s all it is.

8 Sharks Are At The Top Of The Food Chain

Most people think of sharks as nature’s most efficient killing machines, but we’ve already dispelled that myth. Still, the myth prevails, leading many to assume that sharks are at the top of their respective food chain.

It makes sense when you think about it… what could possibly pose a threat to a shark? Technically, humans kill far more sharks than anything in the ocean, but we aren’t exactly members of their food chain. As it happens, while sharks don’t have to live in constant fear of many predators, they are hunted in their environment.

When most people picture the deadliest shark, they probably think of the Great White. After all, they can grow up to 23 feet (7 meters) and weigh 2.5+ tons or more. They can become prey to larger great whites, but the creature that hunts and eats them is the aptly named Killer Whale.

This behavior was first documented in 1997 when two Orcas attacked a Great White shark to consume its liver. Since that time, more attacks have been witnessed, proving there’s a predator the largest predatory sharks fear.

7 Sharks Can’t Get Cancer

Because cancer has long been one of humanity’s deadliest enemies, people have looked to other animals to try and find a means of fighting it. Over the years, this has manifested in many ways. The most perplexing is the belief that sharks are so evolved that they are somehow immune to cancer.

This is entirely false, as malignant tumors have been found in sharks since the first was identified in the late 19th century. It likely became popular because, while sharks can (and do) get cancer, it’s somewhat rare when compared to other animals. As a result, people have long believed that grinding up shark cartilage and consuming it will prevent/kill cancer (it doesn’t).

Another culprit for this myth is the 1992 bestselling book, Sharks Don’t Get Cancer: How Shark Cartilage Could Save Your Life. In the book, I. William Lane and Linda Comac explain that sharks rarely get cancer. The book promotes using their cartilage for health benefits.

It also endorsed a product from one of the author’s sons, eroding its credibility as legitimate scientific research. Regardless, the myth prevails despite the large body of scientific evidence proving otherwise.

6 Sharks Will Die If They Stop Swimming

There has long been a belief that sharks need to swim to live, which is associated with how sharks breathe. Like most fish, sharks breathe via gills, which extract oxygen from the water as it passes over them. Unlike most species of fish, sharks do this in a variety of ways.

Some species use ram ventilation, which works when they swim fast with their mouths open, forcing water to flow through their gills. Typically, when a shark is breathing in this manner, they swim faster than usual and are always moving.

Some sharks use buccal pumping, which works by drawing water into the mouth and over the gills, which they can do while remaining completely still. This has been observed in Bullhead and Nurse Sharks.

The Tiger shark has been known to switch between buccal pumping and ram ventilation, depending on their need. Some species lost the ability to buccal pump, including Great Whites and Mako Sharks. These “obligate ram ventilators” will indeed stop breathing if they don’t swim, so the myth isn’t true of nearly every species of shark but does apply to a few.

5 Sharks Can Detect A Single Drop Of Blood From Miles Away

You’ve probably heard this at some point in your life, and ever since, you’ve taken precautions to avoid the water with even a tiny cut. Many sharks are hunters, and they do have an acute sense of spell and a sensitive olfactory system, but it’s not a supernatural ability.

Sharks use their nostrils entirely for smelling since they can’t breathe through them. They are lined with incredibly sensitive cells capable of picking apart various chemicals interpreted as smells by the brain. While this translates into an accurate sense of smell, it doesn’t extend for miles in any direction.

Some sharks have been known to detect a low concentration of something at a few hundred meters, which is hardly a mile or more. Some species of sharks can detect specific compounds at 1 part per billion, which sounds impressive — and it is — but it amounts to about 1 drop in an average-size swimming pool.

Sharks can definitely pick apart a scent in a large body of water, but it’s limited far more than the myth allows. This ability isn’t restricted to predation either, as it comes in handy when detecting pheromones emitted during mating.

4 Sharks Can Swim Backward

For the vast majority of fish species, swimming backward is as simple as flicking the pectoral fins in the right direction. This makes it possible to quickly escape from danger, and most fish can do it, though not as well as they can swim forwards.

Because this isn’t much of a problem for most fish, it stands to reason that people would believe that sharks can swim backward. Oddly enough, sharks are among the minority of fish species that cannot swim backward, and it’s to do with several factors of their anatomy.

Sharks swim forward by moving their tails to push water around their fins, which they use to stabilize and steer their bodies. Unlike most fish, their pectoral fins don’t curve upwards, limiting their swimming to forward movement only. When a shark moves backward, it does so by stopping movement and letting gravity do the rest.

Moving backward can actually be harmful to sharks due to their need to move water over their gills to breathe. Backward movement can lead to suffocation in some species, so doing anything but swim forward isn’t an option.

3 Sharks Are Only Found In Saltwater

Ask just about anyone in the world what kind of water sharks call home, and they’ll describe oceans. This makes sense, seeing as most sharks are found in the world’s oceans, but there are some exceptions.

There are six species of River Sharks found in Southeast Asia, South Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. These sharks all fall under the genus Glyphis, and they all reside in freshwater for their entire lives. Unfortunately, most species of River Sharks are largely unknown to science.

This is due to severe population decline due to habitat degradation, making them some of the rarest sharks in the world. Little is known about their lifecycle and populations as a result of their diminishing numbers. Often, River Sharks are confused with another freshwater-loving species, the Bull Shark.

Bull Sharks spend most of their lives in freshwater, but they return to the ocean to mate. They travel the world’s rivers and have been found as far inland up the Mississippi River as Alton, Illinois, which is about 1,750 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. In 1972, one was found 2,500 miles up the Amazon River, so they do just fine in freshwater.

2 All Sharks Are Deadly To Humans

Many people around the world wrongly assume that sharks are maneating predators capable of causing severe harm or death. While it’s true that a shark bite is almost always a serious injury that can lead to death, the belief that all species of sharks are capable of causing harm to humans is simply false.

Only about a dozen species of sharks have ever been known to bite humans, and seeing as there are around 500 species known to science, that’s only about 2.4% of all sharks. That leaves hundreds of different species that are of no threat to people, and the variety of these animals is pretty amazing.

Some sharks, like the Caribbean Reef Shark, are dangerous to humans if they attack, but they rarely do. Still, you wouldn’t want to get bitten by one. Nurse sharks are well known for having no interest in people whatsoever, and while attacks are incredibly rare, disturbing them might cause a bite.

The largest shark and largest fish in the world, the Whale Shark, is of no danger to humans. They are filter feeders, so it has no interest in people at all. If you found yourself in its mouth, it would be almost as upset as you, but seeing as it lacks any teeth in its mouth and would spit you out, you’d walk away with the best fish story ever told.

1 Sharks Can “Go Rogue” And Hunt Only Humans

The term “rogue shark” is often used to describe a shark that stops hunting its usual prey and instead seeks out and subsists entirely on people. This is, of course, unnatural for all the reasons previously mentioned.

So-called “rogue sharks” are blamed for shark attacks on people, but the concept of a “rogue shark” is entirely without merit. Sharks don’t suddenly gain a taste for humans and seek them out. typically, when a shark bites someone, they realize it isn’t their typical prey and move on.

They rarely take a second bite, though it can sometimes happen. Ultimately, it’s easy to see that rogue sharks aren’t a real threat if you look at the number of annual shark attacks. Globally, 57 unprovoked shark attacks were recorded in 2020. Ten of those resulted in fatalities, and 33 occurred in the U.S.A.

That may seem like a lot, but the odds of a person being bitten by a shark are incredibly low. Your odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 3,748,067. You are more likely to be struck by lightning before winding up in a train accident and ultimately dying from fireworks long before succumbing to a shark attack.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts And Stories About Sharks

Sharks are the most maligned creatures on earth. For most of human history, no one cared about these animals until swimming began to grow in popularity. The odd shark attack put them on the radar, and then the movie Jaws sealed their fate. They were slaughtered by the thousands afterward. Nowadays up to 100 million are killed every year. And it’s a damn shame because sharks are amazing in ways that most people never realize.

10. Sharks Attack More During a Full Moon

According to PETA, a cork from a champagne bottle is more likely to kill you than a shark. Whether or not that’s entirely true, it is a fact that shark attacks are relatively rare, and far rarer than most people think. Only 10 people died from unprovoked shark attacks in 2020. That said, if you want to maximize your odds of not being in the net group of 10, choose the time you head into the ocean wisely.

It turns out that sharks are the werewolves of the sea. Attacks tend to happen more often during a full moon than other times of the month. The fuller the moon, the more the attacks. And that makes it seem like perhaps the moonlight is allowing sharks to see better and therefore attack more, except that the attacks generally happen during the daytime, it’s just that they coincide with these lunar phases. 

We know that the moon has an obvious effect on the oceans with how the tides work, but clearly it’s angering up some sharks as well.

9. Some Sharks Glow in the Dark

Is a shark more or less intimidating if you can see it coming? There’s obviously something terrifying about something jumping out at you from nowhere, but what if you can see it approaching and just have no way to defend yourself? And with that in mind, would you be more or less scared of a shark that glows in the dark?

Bioluminescence is still something of a novelty to humans because, in the space we occupy, few animals are capable of glowing. In the sea, there are upwards of 1,500 species of fish that have the ability to generate light. These are generally deepwater fish, and they’re usually not sharks. But some of them are. In particular, three species discovered off the coast of New Zealand. One of them, the kitefin shark, grows to nearly six feet in length.

8. Several Shark Species Can Walk on Land

Whether their reputation is deserved or not, one thing most people could take solace in when it came to sharks was that they’d leave you alone if you left them alone. They live in the sea; we live on land. We never have to cross paths if we don’t want to. And then you find out that some sharks can walk on land. 

Science has identified a handful of fish species that can actually walk on land. In 2020, four new species of walking shark were identified. And if you read about them, the story details how they can use their pectoral fins to walk across the sea floor and hunt prey that lives under rocks and in coral. And that seems cool because they’re walking but not “land” walking, right? 

Of course, the epaulette shark is able to walk on land outside of the water, a feature that likely evolved to help it survive if it gets caught in shallows or in a pool when the tide goes out. They can stay out of the water for up to an hour.

7. Sharks Smell in Stereo

No doubt you have heard that a shark is able to sense electrical signals in the water, which is how it hunts. And if you think that’s to make up for poor eyesight, think again. Sharks have vision 10 times greater than humans. And if that wasn’t enough, their sense of smell is far more advanced than what a human has as well.

Sharks don’t just smell prey in the water, they smell it in stereo. When a shark is swimming and there’s injured prey in the water, the smell will hit one nostril before another. The shark will navigate by the timing of the smell that reaches it, so it will turn towards whichever nostril smelled the smell first. As they swim, moving their head through the smell, they pick which nostril is getting the most smell to direct their movements.

In highly concentrated areas of smell, say a pool of blood, they need to be able to distinguish which nostril is getting the highest concentration of smell and adjust their tack based on that. They can make these adjustments to their direction in mere seconds. 

6. Venomous Sharks live in the Thames River

There are a lot of dangerous animals in the world, and they can be dangerous for different reasons. Things like bees and hornets attack in large groups. A cheetah is fast. A rattlesnake is venomous. And a shark has deadly jaws and speed in the water. But at least that’s all. Except for a couple of species of sharks that are actually venomous, too.

Turns out that being a shark just isn’t intimidating enough for a handful of species, including one that’s been found in the Thames River in England.  Though the Thames was essentially a polluted trickle of death for many years, it’s been making a steady comeback lately and part of that has included signs of sharks known as spurdogs in the water. Spurdogs are just under two feet in length and have spines in front of their dorsal fins that can envenomate prey. 

5. Cookie Cutter Sharks Disabled Nuclear Subs

Jaws made us afraid of Great White sharks but the real terror of the deep are cookiecutter sharks. They may only be 20 inches long, but these little beasts have a real horror movie side to them, which is basically their mouths. They get their name because that mouth allows them to bite nearly perfect circles out of their prey. And then some.

Turns out the sharks like to bite almost everything, including nuclear subs. Their tiny size and unique mouths meant that, back when nuclear subs were first taking to the water, any exposed non-metal parts were perfect prey for the sharks. They’d bite hoses and cables and whatever else they could reach. Their attacks on rubber sonar domes blinded subs and forced them to return to dock for repairs. 

The subs were later designed with some stronger materials and the tiny sharks’ reign of terror was over, at least insofar as it related to nuclear weapons.

4. Sharks Were Discovered in an Active Underwater Volcano

The microscopic tardigrade is one of the most indestructible creatures in the world. They can survive mountaintops and the depths of the ocean, they can survive outer space and temperatures that range from -328 degrees to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. It seems like no environment is too extreme. And, as it happens, there are some sharks that have taken a page from the tardigrade’s book.

Near the Solomon Islands there’s an underwater volcano called Kavachi. It’s an active volcano, and it erupts frequently, spewing ash and lava and chemicals into the water. In 2015, when researchers went to investigate, it was not erupting at that time, but the water was still very hot and acidic. They sent down a camera and saw two species of shark living right in the caldera of the volcano. 

Sharks are known to be able to endure deep water, so the water around the volcano is just another extreme. It’s believed that their ability to sense electromagnetic signals may help them survive by warning them before the volcano actually erupts so they can leave the area.

3. Sharks Like Jazz

There is an abundance of research that shows animals like music. Classical music causes cows to produce more milk. Elephants seem to like classical music as well. And sharks? Well, they respond to jazz.

Based on research that involved using food as a reward, researchers determined that sharks were more attracted to the sound of jazz music than something like classical. When they played jazz music, the sharks would swim towards it to get their food reward. When combined with classical the sharks got confused but cut them a break, they’re just fish. 

The research is a nice complement to the idea that sharks tend to be attracted to certain sounds in water, in particular boat engines. People on boats chum the waters, in particular when they want to swim with sharks, so it shows sharks can learn to go towards certain sounds that might otherwise seem like they should offer nothing or even scare animals away.

2. Bull Sharks Can Live in Freshwater

Although Great White sharks get a lot of press because of movies like Jaws and the fact that they’re just kind of huge, they are not considered the most dangerous shark in the sea. That honor goes to bull sharks. Bull sharks are highly aggressive and are not afraid to protect their territory. Keep in mind there are not that many shark attacks from any species at all, but bull sharks are still one of the more aggressive species in the water. And the fact they’re not confined to saltwater makes them a little more intimidating.

Most sharks need to regulate the levels of salt in their body and that requires them to live in saltwater all the time. A great white shark in freshwater will die fairly quickly as its cells breakdown due to a lack of salt when their body essentially becomes diluted with freshwater. A bull shark, however, has adapted the ability to recycle salt in its own body through its kidneys and some tail glands that retain salt.

Bull sharks typically have their young in fresh or brackish water, which helps protect them from predators. Though they do head out to sea eventually, they are able to stay and thrive in freshwater. 

1. Sharks Can Pushed Their Insides Right Out

Sharks are known as voracious eaters.A great white can sustain itself for around two weeks on 66 pounds of food. A whale shark will consume 46 pounds of plankton per day. Suffice it to say, sharks can eat. And not everything they consume is even food. Some have been caught with things as bizarre as wine bottles, drums, and even a cannonball in their stomachs. 

Given how much goes into a shark, it seems reasonable that there has to be a way for it to get back out again. And there is, even if it’s not the way you’d think. Sharks have the ability to throw up in the most over the top way possible, by forcing their entire stomachs back out of their mouths. 

The act is most often seen when sharks are under stress, from things like being caught by fishermen or being beached, for instance. 

It’s believed that sharks do this not just out of stress, but also to essentially rinse out their stomachs. If they have a lot of foreign material or dangerous materials inside, they can dump it, rinse it in seawater, and suck it right back in. It takes only a moment for a shark to push its stomach out and then swallow it again, and they seem to be no worse for it once it’s done.