The largest shark in the world - photo for memory

Not many animals cause strong fear in humans due to the possibility of easily losing their lives in an unexpected encounter. Polar and brown bears, a pack of wolves, sharks, poisonous snakes, and jellyfish top this list. There are many species of sharks that inhabit the world's oceans. To maintain the intrigue until the end of the article, the shark in the world, photos, data about it will be “served on the table” last, because many of these dangerous but attractive creatures arouse genuine interest and surprise with their abilities and habits.

From ancestors to descendants

The distant ancestor of sharks was the prehistoric megalodon. His recreated image in “Jurassic World” is seriously frightening even on the screen, but, indeed, the largest predatory fish of those times, with a length of 20 m, weighed up to 60 tons. Most of the species of today's descendants of this giant are significantly inferior to it in size and body weight , but not all...

So, about the significant, interesting facts about them established by scientists:

• All (more than 450 species) of these animals belong to the class of cartilaginous fish, and they have no bones, which makes them attractive from a gastronomic point of view.
• Its habitat is the entire World Ocean, from tropical seas to the Arctic and Antarctic.
• Some species live in fresh water of rivers.
• Size - from 17 cm to many meters, but more on that later...
• Sharks do not have a swim bladder.
• Almost all sharks are true predators, hunting any living creatures living in the seas and oceans, but three species - the giant shark, the largemouth shark, and the whale shark - are so-called filter feeders, feeding on plankton and small fish.
• With the teeth of these, both universal predators and lovers of tasty krill, fry and other crustaceans, everything is fine - from 180 to 14 thousand sharp pieces. Only the sizes vary - up to 5 cm for a white shark, accustomed to tearing prey with its teeth, 5 mm for a whale shark. The teeth of all these fish are arranged in several rows: from 4 to 28, depending on the species.
• Particularly envy of mankind is the ability of sharks to change, without the help of dentists, worn-out rows of teeth to the next - brand new, without flaws. Alas, in this dental issue, nature clearly did not side with people whose replacement old teeth do not grow from the inside of the jaw.

Now it’s worth looking at the photos of contenders for the title of the largest shark in the world, as well as those that are unusual in appearance and shape:

• White shark. Thanks to the image replicated in numerous films, it appears to be both the largest shark in the world and the most bloodthirsty. This is indeed a dangerous creature, including for careless divers, but its maximum size is 6 m, which is clearly not enough to claim first place.

• Tiger shark. Dangerous for humans. “Total” - 5.5 m.

• Hammerhead shark. The very unusual shape of the head was the reason for this name. Reaches a length of 6.1 m.

• Giant shark. Despite its name, it has a recorded maximum length of 9.8m, which is longer than the white, but it is not the largest fish.

Fortunately, these predatory animals do not shine with special intelligence; they do not organize safaris or manhunts. The aggressiveness of sharks, according to both researchers and that stubborn thing – statistics, is greatly exaggerated. The media cite data that in the United States the ratio of people killed by shark attacks to drowning on an annual average is 1/3000.

A person, especially his highest form of development - a tourist diver, most often provokes a predator himself, trying to take a selfie with him as a memory of a chance meeting. However, some animal and bear lovers hand-feed.

Shark out of categories

Whale shark. Here is the largest shark in the world, its photo. The record individual of them, recorded by scientists, was 20 meters long and weighed 34 tons, which is comparable in size to a large sperm whale. Why not a modern megalodon? But, in fact, the difference is huge. First of all, because the whale shark is not a predator, but a peacefully “grazing” creature on the underwater “field” of plankton, which does not pose any danger even to unceremonious scuba diving enthusiasts.

She lives in the tropical latitudes of the World Ocean. Whale sharks live in small groups, rarely alone, but sometimes in places with high concentrations of plankton they form aggregations of hundreds of individuals. Following the migration of plankton caused by ocean currents and storms, they make long journeys.

Despite the fact that whale sharks are a subject of keen interest for the scientific community, they are still very little studied. Suffice it to say that the total number of this rare species (compared to many others) has not yet been established. This remains to be learned by observing, with the help of satellites, tagged individuals migrating as part of separate populations, the number of which has already been determined.

The whale shark is the largest shark in the world; a photo of this largest fish on the planet is difficult to confuse with other inhabitants of the ocean. Just like the blue whale, which is the largest animal on Earth, causes surprise mixed with admiration. Seeing such mysterious, huge animals with your own eyes is...