Sharks have played a vital role in maintaining healthy oceans for hundreds of millions of years as a top predator. More than 450 species of sharks cruise the world’s oceans, ranging in size from 8 inches to a whopping 40 feet long. But today, nearly one in four sharks and their relatives are threatened with extinction. A major cause is the demand for shark fins. Every year, fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global fin trade.
Learn fun facts and how you can help your favorite sharks – from great white sharks to hammerhead sharks – by clicking a species below.
The frilled shark is a strange, prehistoric-looking shark that lives in the open ocean and spends much of its time in deep, dark waters far below the sea surface. Its long, cylindrical body reaches lengths of nearly 7 feet (2 m), and its fins are placed far back on the body. The frilled shark gets … Read more
Named for the shape of its head, which when observed from above resembles a cow’s nose, the cownose ray is a moderately sized stingray native to the western Atlantic Ocean. Like all eagle rays, cownose rays are active swimmers and are rarely found lying motionless on the seafloor like the closely related whiptail stingrays (e.g., … Read more
Blue sharks are named for the striking blue coloration on their backs, making them the most distinctive of the requiem sharks. The contrast between their white underbelly and dark blue back is called counter-shading and helps provide camouflage for the shark as it swims in the open ocean. The blue shark is one of the … Read more
The white shark, named for its stark white underbelly, is perhaps one of the most recognizable shark species today. Known more commonly as the great white shark, this is one of the largest species of sharks with an estimated maximum length of 20 feet (6.1 m), weighing over 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) fully grown. Like … Read more
Growing up to 40 feet long, or the size of a school bus, the whale shark is the largest fish in the world. These huge sharks are characterized by their broad and flattened heads as well as the unique “checkerboard” color pattern on their sides and back of light spots and stripes on a dark … Read more
The tasselled wobbegong is a flat, well-camouflaged shark that sits motionless on the seafloor, waiting for unsuspecting prey to swim a bit too close. It is a member of the carpet shark family, named for their seafloor-dwelling behavior. With its blotchy coloration and the highly branched skin flaps that disguise its mouth and head, the … Read more
With their long, whip-like tails, thresher sharks are one of the most easily recognized species of sharks. Pelagic thresher sharks are the smallest of the three species of thresher sharks, averaging about 10 feet (3 m)long. They are highly migratory, inhabiting the pelagic waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, including off the coast of … Read more
The hammerhead sharks are an unmistakable group of sharks that can be distinguished from all other fishes by the shape of their heads. The wide, hammer-shaped head gives these sharks their common name, and the scalloped hammerhead is named for the notches found along the front edge of its head. Like all hammerhead sharks, the … Read more
The megamouth shark is a rare shark and a large species, reaching weights of 2700 pounds (1215 kg). However, it is the smallest of the three species of filter-feeding sharks, behind the whale shark and the basking shark. The megamouth shark gets its name from the remarkably large, circular mouth. On an individual approximately 16 … Read more
Reaching lengths of 24 feet (7.3 m) and weights of 2200 pounds (1000 kg), the Greenland shark is one of the largest sharks in the ocean. Though both large and predatory, this species is not known to be particularly aggressive and is thought to be fairly sluggish in the cold waters of the north Atlantic … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.