All About Sharks

 

Sharks have a way of capturing the imagination. Our fascination with these apex sea predators goes back far beyond 1975’s Jaws, and the fact that a movie about a tenacious man-eating shark could become the world’s highest grossing film (at least until Star Wars) only proves how much we love to fear them. Like the other cunning hunters of the world, such as bears, tigers, wolves, and killer whales, we admire the sleek beauty found in the hundreds of shark species even as we can’t help worrying about the killer instinct that constantly drives them forwards.

All About Sharks

What We Do

As you might guess from the name, SharkSider.com is all about sharks. This site aims to be the internet’s number one place to learn about all things shark, including species descriptions, marine ecologies, conservation, and all the information a fan could want. We’re constantly featuring new and interesting sharks on our front page, and our list of sharks is always growing even as marine explorers and biologists discover new shark species out in the wild and learn more about the sharks we already know.

For instance, did you know that every shark uses cartilage where other fish use bone? In case you weren’t aware, cartilage is the stuff in your ears and the tip of your nose that keeps them both stiff and flexible. The scientific name for cartilage cells is chondrocytes, which is why sharks belong to the taxonomical class Chondrichthyes. Incidentally, according to this classification system, humans are closer relatives to goldfish than goldfish are to sharks.

Go Beyond The Basics

SharkSider.com isn’t a scientific resource or any sort of online textbook for sharks. We may be all about sharks, but we’re enthusiasts, not authorities.

But don’t let that stop you from enjoying our website! Not only are we all about sharks, we’re all about spreading the word and sharing information so that everyone can learn more about these beautiful creatures.

Great white sharks get all the media attention and hammerheads show up on all the posters, but did you know that the world’s most studied shark is the lemon shark? Unlike many other species, lemon sharks can thrive in captivity and scientific expeditions can easily catch them throughout the Caribbean and along both the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of America.

Lemon sharks are marked by the distinctive color that gives them their name. Adults of the species can grow to be over 11 feet long, making them easy to spot and identify even from a distance. On top of that, lemon sharks are one of the gentlest shark species a diver can meet, making them a popular sight for divers of every stripe.

 


 

Learn About Different Types Of Sharks Here!
 


 

Spread The Word To Spread The Love

One of the big reasons we think it’s so important to let everyone know all about sharks is because of the threat humans currently pose to sharks of every species and in every ocean. Some people believe sharks are far more dangerous to humans than they actually are, and they support the idea of hunting sharks to lower their population. However, this danger simply isn’t there.

Every year, there are around 4 fatal shark bite attacks worldwide. But at the same time, dogs (Man’s Best Friend!) kill between 30-40 Americans alone. And both these numbers are easily dwarfed by fatal car accidents, which claim over 100 American lives every single day!

But what’s worse than our misplaced fear is the overwhelming demand for shark fins. One side effect of China’s booming economy has been a booming demand for shark fin soup, an exotic dish with a tradition that dates back thousands of years. The world’s most populous nation is growing the world’s biggest middle class, a middle class which can afford some traditional shark fin soup for weddings and other special occasions for the very first time. Other nations are also beginning to join the fad.

However, shark fins add zero flavor and have a near-zero nutritional value. The only things they do to a soup are thicken the broth and jack up the price, and there are other ingredients which can do either job just as well. But since shark fins are traditional and exotic, tens of thousands of boats across the globe are killing millions of sharks every year.

We have a lot of love for sharks here at SharkSider.com, and it’s a love we want to share with the whole world. Because if we can show enough people how wonderful sharks are and how valuable they are to our planet’s ecosystems, we may be able to work together and rescue a hundred shark species or more from the edge of extinction.

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