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.
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
The goblin shark is a fascinating species that lives in the open ocean from near the surface down to depths of at least 4265 feet (1300 m). Like many species with a deep-sea affinity, scientists believe goblin sharks only come near the surface at night and spend most of their lives in the dark. The … Read more
The cookiecutter shark is one of the most interesting sharks in the ocean, and it never grows bigger than 18-20 inches (~50 cm). It gets its common name from its feeding strategy of biting off small chunks of much larger animals. This species is small and lives much of its life in the deep water … Read more
The nurse shark is one of the most commonly observed sharks on coral and rocky reefs of the eastern Pacific Ocean and the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean. Given that nurse sharks give live birth and that individuals (even juveniles) have relatively small home ranges, it is surprising that all individuals across this large, tropical … Read more
The longnose sawshark is one of seven species of sawsharks, noted for their long, flat rostrum (snout) that is covered with several large teeth on its left and right sides giving it the shape of a saw blade. This saw distinguishes sawsharks from all other species of fishes except the sawfishes. Though they look superficially … Read more
The giant manta ray is the largest ray and one of the largest fishes in the world. Reaching widths of up to 29 feet (8.8 m), the manta rays are much larger than any other ray species. For many decades, there was only one known species of manta, but scientists recently divided that species into two: … Read more
The basking shark is the second largest fish in the world, and like the largest fish (the whale shark) and the largest animal (the blue whale), basking sharks are filter feeders that eat tiny, planktonic prey. Reaching lengths of 40 feet (12 m) and resembling predatory sharks in appearance, the basking shark can give an … Read more
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We have already protected over 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.