They Look So Innocent Because They Are

Save the damn sharks

Sharks are over 420,000,000 years old.

That’s older than flowering plants, older than trees, 200,000,000 years older than dinosaurs, almost older than vertebrates or animal life on land, and far, far, far older than anything even remotely resembling a mammal. 

They’ve survived three ice ages and the rise and fall of the great aquatic invertebrates, the primitive reptiles, the dinosaurs, the warm-water whales, and the mammalian megafauna that came just before us.

They’ve survived virtually unchanged since the dawn of vertebrate life, too. If you found a picture of a primitive shark and showed it to someone who knew nothing about marine life, they’d go “oh, yeah, that’s a weird-looking shark”. 

And they are headed for extinction some time in the next century if we continue killing them at this rate. There is still hope, the numbers are lowering more slowly and there are increasing populations in well-managed fisheries, but the four-hundred-and-twenty-million-year-old tops of our food chains are dying out for no other reason than because killing them is profitable. 

Spread the word, everyone. Education is the key to getting shark finning banned, to pushing (or forcing) methods of fishing that reduce bycatch, and to convincing people that sharks are not monsters. 

The Ghost Shark, Goblins of the deep

Deep-Sea Ghost Shark Filmed Alive In Ocean For First Time

The odd-looking fish, which sports a retractable sex organ on its head, was also spotted in the Northern Hemisphere for the first time.

#Shart

Oh… don’t mind me #shark #sharkart #art

Love it

#Repost @pejac_art with @repostapp ・・・ Ball pool in #lawoftheweakest #Pejac #pejaclondonshow #shark #sharkart

Whale sharks are not only the largest shark – they’re the largest fish in the ocean. These gentle giants feed on some of the tiniest creatures in the ocean: plankton. These sharks may be huge, but never fear, they come in peace. The whale shark is one of only three filter-feeding sharks. Of course, whale sharks are not whales at all; they earned the name “whale” solely for their impressive size. A fun nickname for whale sharks is in Africa, where the sharks are called “papa shillingi.” This nickname in Kenya came from the myth that God tossed shillings upon the backs of these large fish.

Classic

www.ellorytheshark.com

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Cool shattoo

#Repost @richard_dc210 with @repostapp ・・・ Shark from last week. Www.firmecopias.com #sanantoniotattooshop #sanantonioqualitytattoos #tattooshops #tattoos #sanantoniobesttattooshop #sanantonio #sanantonioblackandgraytattoo #sanantoniocoveruptattoos #sanantonioportraittattoos #shark #sharktattoo

Sick

This stingray may be hidden beneath the sand, but it cannot hide from the incredible hunting senses of the Great Hammerhead shark. The shark waits for each sense to be triggered; hearing, smell, sight, electroreception, and touch. As the ray bolts from cover, the shark takes chase and uses its ‘hammer’ to pin the ray down to the sea floor, trying to get a good bite. The Hammerhead locks on to the wing to immobilize its prey and finish its meal.