Sharks come in a remarkable array of shapes and sizes.
Introduction It's Shark Week: Time to celebrate all that is toothy, finned, and leather-skinned. The Discovery Channel's annual week of shark programming starts July 24 . In honor of these incredible creatures, we've rounded up a list of shark superlatives. Which of these cartilaginous wonders is the largest, the fastest, the weirdest? We've got your answers right here.
The smallest shark On the other end of the size spectrum sits the dwarf lanternshark . This diminutive deep-sea dweller grows to be only about 7.9 inches long. It's rarely observed, given that it swims at depths between 928 and 1,440 feet below the sea surface, according to the Smithsonian Institution . So far, the shark has only been seen in the waters off Colombia and Venezuela.
The fastest sharkThe shortfin mako shark is the fastest known shark. This streamlined shark can swim at 31 mph and pour on the speed for short bursts of up to 46 mph , according to the Smithsonian. Makos are apex predators who use their speed to hunt bony fish. They're also expert jumpers, regularly leaping at least 10 feet out of the water. The sharks are sometimes caught by deep-sea anglers and may jump into fishing boats in an attempt to shake free of the anglers' hooks.
Greenland sharks are the only sharks that can survive the cold of the Arctic Ocean all year, according to the National Ocean Service. They have extremely slow metabolisms and grow only about a centimeter a year — but when you live long enough, all those centimeters add up. Over their long lives, these sharks can grow to be 19.7 feet from nose to tail.
The deepest-living shark Sharks are found from the surface of the ocean to the deep sea. The lowest-living shark discovered so far is the Portuguese dogfish , a relatively small shark that grows to about 3 feet in length. These sharks are benthic, meaning they live on the ocean floor, and they have been found as deep as 12,057 feet , according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
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