Galapagos shark

Did you know?

Dark gray above and lighter below, the Galapagos shark has no distinctive markings except for a ridge that runs between its dorsal (back) fins. If threatened by a predator or competitor, the shark arches its back, lowers its pectoral (side) fins and swims in figure-eight loops. If the intruder doesn't heed this display, the Galapagos shark will chase and attack the intruder. Although the Galapagos shark is considered potentially dangerous, it rarely attacks humans.

Conservation

Sharks are often misunderstood; they're not maniacal eating machines, eager to devour everything in their path. Only a handful of the over 400 species of sharks are dangerous, and even these rarely attack humans. People, however, are responsible for the death of 11,400 sharks every hour, every day. Since sharks grow slowly, breed late in life and generally bear few young, the populations of many species of sharks are declining dramatically. Without more regulations, many species will become extinct.

The Galapagos shark is listed as “near threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

Cool facts

• This shark bears live young. The embryos receive nourishment from a placentalike attachment to the mother's uterine wall.
• A shark's nose is superbly sensitive to some odors. It can detect blood in a concentration of only one part per million — the same as one teaspoon of blood in an average-size swimming pool.
• Galapagos sharks are curious; they often gather around and bump into boats, oars, divers or anything else that seems to strike their fancy.
• To rid its stomach of an indigestible object, a shark pushes its stomach out through its mouth, expels the object and then pulls its stomach back into its proper place.
• Though the Galapagos shark is found worldwide, the two scientists who first identified it named the shark after the Galapagos Islands, where they observed it swimming in offshore waters.