Sharksonline's Blog

Shark attack fact number one: The odds of you getting attack are very rare.  You are more likely to get hit by lighting and die.

Shark attack fact number two is: There are three different attack the first one is  the Hit-and-run attack – usually non-fatal, the shark bites and then leaves.

The 2nd one is a Sneak attack – deep water attack, can be fatal.

And the last one is  Bump-and-bite attack – the shark bumps before biting.

The reason for the attacks:

Reason one is the sharks are very curious creature and will find out if it is prey or not. And the 2nd reason most sharks that attack are young and have no idea what it is about to attack.

And sharks have no hand so they use there teeth to find out this called a  exploratory bite. After one bite they swim away.

Sharks normally make one swift attack and then retreat to wait for the victim to die or exhaust itself before returning to feed. This protects the shark from injury from a wounded and aggressive target. However it also allows humans time to get out of the water and survive. Shark attacks may also occur due to territorial reasons or as dominance over another shark species, resulting in an attack.

How to prevention a shark attack:

• avoiding the water at dawn, dusk, or night, when sharks tend to feed.
• avoiding areas where sharks generally locate themselves, such as murky waters and steep drop-offs.
• avoiding swimming alone, always being near a group of people, and if possible, avoiding being at the edge of the group.
• refraining from excess splashing or movement.
• preventing pets from entering the water.
• avoiding shiny jewelry, tan lines and bright clothing, all of which can attract sharks. Like yellow and red black it a safe color most of the time.
• avoiding entering water if bleeding from an open wound or if menstruating.
• avoiding areas where the remains of fish have been discarded into the water, such as near fishermen cleaning their catch.

Only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: The great white, tiger, bull and the oceanic whitetip. These sharks are large and powerful predators they may sometimes attack and kill people. However they have all been filmed in open water by unprotected divers.

Modern day statistics show the oceanic whitetip shark as being seldom involved in unprovoked attacks. However, there have been a number of attacks involving this species, particularly during World War I and World War II. The oceanic whitetip lives in the open sea and rarely shows up near coasts, where most recorded incidents occur. During the world wars many ship and aircraft disasters happened in the open ocean, and due to its former abundance the oceanic whitetip was often the first species on site when such a disaster happened.

Infamous examples of oceanic whitetip attacks include the sinking of the Nova Scotia, a steamship carrying 1000 people, that was sunk near South Africa by a German submarine in World War II. Only 192 people survived, with many deaths attributed to the oceanic whitetip shark. Another example was the torpedoing of the USS Indianapolis on 30 July 1945, giving a minimal figure of 60–80 killed by oceanic whitetips. Some survivors stated that tiger sharks were involved too.

The four species responsible for a significant number of fatal attacks on humans, a number of other species have attacked humans without being provoked, and have on extremely rare occasions been responsible for a human death. This group includes the shortfin mako, hammerhead, Galapagos, gray reef, blacktip reef, lemon, silky, and blue sharks. These sharks are also large, powerful predators which can be provoked simply by being in the water at the wrong time and place, but they are normally considered less dangerous to humans than the previous group. A few other shark species do attack people every year, producing wounds that can potentially kill, but this occurs either specifically because they have been provoked, or through mistaken identity due to water conditions or the like. But every year only an average of 41 people are killed by sharks, while over 100 million sharks are killed every year, a portion of which due to the demand for shark fin soup.

All of this info is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_attack

1. The Bull Shark is the most aggressive. It is the most aggressive of all the sharks. It can live in both salt and fresh water. And it will attack anything because of it’s aggressive.

2. The Great White Shark is the 2nd most aggressive shark. It is the biggest shark of it’s time and can grow up to 20 feet. Researchers have found they generally don’t prey on humans and take sample bite of their victims. This curious nature of these great hunters proves to be a fatal bite for humans. There are 3 different types of attacks. There is the

• Hit-and-run attack – usually non-fatal, the shark bites and then leaves
• Sneak attack – deep water attack, can be fatal
• Bump-and-bite attack – the shark bumps before biting

3. The Tiger Shark is the 3nd most aggressive shark. It has been know to have human body parts in the stomach. These sharks generally hunt at night and will devour anything that comes in their way.

4. The Oceanic Whitetip Shark has been known to follow ships and wait for a meal. Most aggressive shark towards humans. It goes into a feeding frenzy especially if there are survivors from a ship wreck or air crash in waters. It will always be remembered that this shark was responsible for death of 600 to 800 sailors of the USS Indianapolis.

5. The Shortfin Mako Shark Shortfin. This shark can swim at the speed of 46 mph and even jump 28 feet up in air! The Mako shark is one of the four warm blooded sharks that is known for 42 reported attacks on humans. There have been 2 fatal attacks associated with the Mako shark. This shark reaches 9 to 13 feet in length and can weigh a heavy 1,759 pounds.

6. The Gray Reef Shark  is one of the fiercest predators in the ocean world. It has an nictating membrane that covers its eyes when it is in attack mode. This membrane protects its eyes from getting hurt and it can go ahead and bite anything and everything in its path. The gray reef shark can grow up to 8.4 feet in length and 74.3 pounds in weight. There have been 8 reported attacks on humans by this shark and none of them have been fatal.

Here is a photo to tell if a Gray reef shark is aggressive

7. The Sand Tiger Shark It is one of the aggressive shark species and their aggressiveness begins right in the uterus.  Is give birth to young who develop from eggs within the female shark body. The females have two uteri and that carry many eggs. Once the young shark develops in each uterus it will feed on other weaker fetuses till only one young shark remains in each uterus. There are 64 reported human attacks by sand tiger sharks with 2 fatalities. They are about 10 feet in length and weigh up to 350 pounds.

8. The Blue Shark It has been reported to attack 32 humans of which 3 attacks proved to be fatal. Blue sharks are somewhat explorers and their quest for exploration proves to be a costly affair for humans. They are famous for their exploring bites on small boats that proves deadly for most humans. The blue shark is about 12 feet in length and weighs 450 pounds in weight.

9. The Hammerhead Shark Of these 9 hammerhead species 3 are considered to be the most aggressive shark species. The hammerhead sharks are generally shy creatures but won’t shy off taking a bite off the limbs of swimmers who get close to them. Potentially the most aggressive of the hammerhead speices are scalloped hammerhead and the Whitefin hammerhead or the great hammerhead. These hammerhead sharks are about 10 to 17 feet long and weigh between 330 pounds to 1,100 pounds.

10. The Lemon Shark are native to the subtropical and tropical regions of the Atlantic Coasts of North and South America.  This is one finds itself on the 10 position in the list of most aggressive shark towards human as there have been reports of 22 lemon shark attacks since 1850. Luckily none of these shark attacks was reported to be fatal. Lemon sharks can grow up to 12.6 feet long and weigh well over 400 pounds.

Some of this info is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_attack and from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/most-aggressive-shark.html

There have been many myths about sharks over the years and not all of them are real. I was watching a show on animal planet about sharks and there feeding frenzy. And what makes them attack humans and will they eat anything. Well I must say they I was surprise about the most of the sharks.

Like they say that the Tiger shark will eat anything. But that is not true. They tested the shark will different things like a license plate but the Tiger shark bit it and did not even eat it. So they myth about the Tiger shark is false. But they do know the different from a human to their prey.

And the Great white well that one did not surprise me as much. But I did learn that
Great white see in color and they will attack people dress in yellow and red. But black is a safe color just as long as you don’t wear shine things like rings and necklaces etc. Because they look like fish gills.

Most sharks are optimist like crocodiles are and will eat it if they are really hunger. But they know what they are eating. They tested the Great white shark and they put a fast beating heart in the water and a slow beating heart rate in the water and the great white went for the fast beating heart why? We don’t know. Maybe because they think it sounds like a fish heart and they go for it. And what I surprise by is they put human blood and tuna blood in the water in a blood bag and the great white went for the human blood.

And they tested the Reef shark and when it is feeding it will go in to a feeding frenzy. And when hand feeding they close their eyes and will bite your hand if you don’t let go of the food. But they will come and have a close look. They will attack humans.

Lemon sharks will attack humans. They tested it and made a human like legs and put it in the water and the Lemon shark took both of the legs but did not eat them. And the legs had not bait or anything on them but still the sharks took them.

Myths and facts:

Myths: Sharks have poor vision.  Fact: Their eyesight is just fine and the great white like many sharks can see in color.

Myths: Sharks don’t get cancer. Fact: Sharks like us humans do get cancer it is just that we don’t see it.

Myths: Shark attacks are common. Fact: Shark attacks are rare but when they do happen there are good odds you will live.

Myths: Sharks will eat anything including you. Fact: Not true shark are picky eaters.

Myths: Sharks are dumb robotic killers. Fact: Sharks are just as smart as small mammals.

Most of this info is from a  show called shark feeding frenzy on animal planet