Scientific Name: Carcharhinus leucas
Not-So-Fun Fact: Bull sharks are placed among the most dangerous sharks in the world, next to tiger sharks and great whites, because of their high aggression. It has been postulated that this is because of increased levels of testosterone in the shark’s body in comparison to other fish. An important fact to be considered, of course, is that shark attacks, let alone fatalities, are very rare: it has been estimated that it is more likely for a person to be killed by a collapsing vending machine than for that person to be the victim of a fatal shark attack.
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Carcharhinidae
Genus: Carcharhinus
Species: C. leucas
Description: Bull sharks are heavyset, extremely
powerful sharks. They can measure up from seven feet to more than eleven feet
from their muscular tails to their tapering, blunted snouts. Their backs are
dark gray and their underbellies are white, in order to camouflage them from
other ocean dwellers looking up into the light or down into the depths. Their
pectoral fins are remarkably long, and the tips may be a darker color than
their backs. A bull shark features an impressively large collection of sharp teeth, which are lost and replaced at a
very high rate.
Environment: Bull sharks enjoy warm, shallow
waters, and can be found in any ocean that supplies this habitat. There have
been many cases of the sharks swimming upriver and into freshwater habitats,
which makes them a greater threat to humans than they might otherwise be.
Reproduction & Development: Unlike most fish,
bull sharks give birth to live young, which hatch from eggs inside the female’s
abdomen. One to three “pups” may be born at any one time. Gestation is typically
ten to eleven months. Bull shark young keep to coastal areas and only venture
more widely as adults. A bull shark usually lives up to sixteen years in the
wild.
Nutrition: Bull sharks are carnivores at the top
of the oceanic food chain, and eat mainly large fish, smaller sharks, and rays,
though their selection of prey may extend to shellfish and crustaceans. Bull
sharks may even be cannibalistic in some cases.
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