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The 'Jaws of Life'
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If you don't know sharks you might call them the 'Jaws of Death'. But if you are familiar with the complexity of the biological balance in the ecosystem in the oceans of the world, you will know that those are indeed the 'Jaws of Life'. The aim of this website is to introduce these wonderful animals to you. Let me tell you why I call them the 'Jaws of Life'... |
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Baron Jupp Kerckerinck
zur Borg
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In 2003, I went on a cage dive with my daughter Philipa to watch Great White Sharks in the Pacific at Isla Guadalupe in Mexico. I was so intrigued by those wonderful animals that I decided to spend a lot of time and effort talking to people about sharks and their senseless slaughter all over the world... |
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Shark Alarm
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Sometimes sharks kill humans but 10 million times more often, humans kill sharks. Sharks have existed for over 400 Million years; that's 130 Million years before the first Dinosaurs roamed the earth. We don't exactly know what killed the Dinosaurs but we do know who is killing the sharks, it's the human predator - the most destructive and irresponsible predator on earth... |
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July 29, 2010 |
Search SharkProtect.com: |
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Jupp Kerckerinck is
available to talk to your
group about sharks.
For an interesting
addition to your school,
club or special event
Contact Me today. |
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Email-A-Friend About
SharkProtect.com!
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If you would like to tell someone about SharkProtect.com, drop them a line right now. |
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Join the
SharkProtect.com
Mailing List
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Let me periodically send you news & events from the shark community. |
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Scientists classify fish into two main groups: Osteichthyes, and Chondrichthyes. Osteichthyes, or bony fish, are the vast majority of fish in the sea, they have a skeleton composed purely of bone. Chondrichthyes, on the other hand, including sharks, skates, and rays, have a skeleton that is made of cartilage. Unlike bony fish male Chondrichthyes have claspers, which are external reproductive organs and, interestingly enough, a shark cannot swim backwards.
 Bony fish have smooth scales on their skin, a protective covering over their gills, and a swim bladder to help them maintain neutral buoyancy in the water, (neutral buoyancy is the ability to 'hover' in the water without sinking or floating). There are more than 25,000 species of bony fish. In contrast Chondrichthyes like sharks, do not have a swim bladder. They maintain their buoyancy through the use of an especially large liver. Instead of having one gill plate on either side, sharks have 5-7 gill slits depending on the species. In place of scales sharks have tiny placoid scales, each of which is a tooth-like dermal denticle imbedded in their skin. The denticles are rather like normal teeth with an outer covering of hard enamel around a dentine layer and pulp cavity. They help to improve hydrodynamic efficiency by breaking up the interface between skin and water, thus reducing turbulence when the shark is swimming. The dermal denticles also form a layer of outer armour. Because every species has a different form of denticle it is easy to identify a shark merely by looking at the shape of its denticles.
Aristotle already recognized the inside fertilization of sharks. Unlike bony fish, where the female releases eggs into the water and the male spreads his sperm over them, the fertilization of sharks happens inside the body. Many sharks give birth to live pups, which hatch within the female and are nourished by a placental attachment (Viviparity). Others produce eggs, which hatch inside the body (Ovoviviparity or Yolk-sac viviparity) and others hatch from eggs left in the ocean (Oviparity). In ovoviviparity a kind of intra uterine cannibalism can occur, that is when the embryos feed on unfertilized eggs or on smaller embryos.
 This all might sound very weird to someone who has not yet been introduced to the world of sharks but the truth is that sharks are highly diverse, intelligent animals, which play a key role in our ocean's eco-system. If we continue to kill them in numbers as we do today, they will not survive and then, believe it or not, our oceans will die, so will our planet and so will we.
I know how concerned many people are about the environment but without the oceans we will not be able to survive on land either. We will have no more fresh air nor fresh water. It will be the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. I hate to think about what it would be like.
There are approximately 500 species of sharks known so far, which are classified into eight orders. I have listed whatever I could in alphabetical order with their scientific names behind each one. This list is by no means complete and whoever wants to point out any mistakes I made, is welcome to do so. As a matter of fact I would be very happy if I get as much input as possible because this is a very time consuming work for someone like me, who is not an expert. So feel free to Contact Me if you find a mistake or if you can add to the list.
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Order Carcharhiniformes
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Eight families: |
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Scyliorhinidae, Proscylliidae, Pseudotriakidae, Leptochariidae, Triakidae, Hemigaleidae, Sphyrnidae, Carcharhinidae |
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Species: |
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Collectively known as ground sharks although the Carcharhinidae family are usually known as requiem sharks, this is
a very large group with more than 200 species. It includes: bronze whaler, leopard, reef, tiger, blacktip, silvertip, spinner, silky,
bull, blue and lemon shark, Galapagos shark and all hammerheads |
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Order Heterodontiformes
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One Family: |
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Heterodontidae |
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Species: |
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Port Jackson, bullhead and horn sharks |
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Order Hexanchiformes
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Two Families: |
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Chlamydoselachidae, Hexanchidae |
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Species: |
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Sixgill, sevengill, frilled and cow sharks |
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Order Lamniformes
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Seven families: |
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Odontaspididae, Mitsukurinidae, Pseudocarchariidae,Megachasmidae, Alopiidae, Cetorhinidae, Lamnidae |
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Species: |
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Collectively known as mackerel sharks species include: Sand tiger, megamouth, thresher, basking, great white,
Shortfin mako, crocodile, and goblin sharks |
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Order Orectolobiformes
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Seven families: |
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Parascylliidae, Brachaeluridae, Orectolobidae, Hemiscylliidae, Stegostomatidae, Ginglystomatidae, Rhincodontidae |
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Species: |
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Carpet sharks, zebra, leopard, wobbegong, nurse and whale sharks |
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Order Pristiophoriformes
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One Family: |
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Pristiophoridae |
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Species: |
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Sawsharks |
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Order Squaliformes
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Seven Families: |
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Echinorhinidae, Squalidae, Centrophoridae, Etmopteridae, Somniosidae, Oxynotidae, Dalatiidae |
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Species: |
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Dogfish, Greenland and cookie-cutter sharks, spiny dogfish |
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Order Squatiniformes
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One Family: |
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Squatinidae |
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Species: |
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Angel sharks and monkfish |
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