Shark Trivia Quiz Questions with Answers
How many species of sharks are there?
A: Over 470.
Sharks have keen olfactory senses and some species are able
to detect as little as one part per million of what in seawater?
A: Blood.
What type of shark has the longest known gestation period?
A: Dogfish - 18 to 24 months.
Sharks can determine the direction of a scent based on the timing of what?
A: Scent detection in each nostril.
Sharks are fish that have a skeleton made of what?
A: Cartilage.
What species of shark is the smallest with a length of less than 7 inches?
A: Dwarf Lantern Shark.
Sharks typically swim at an average speed of what?
A: 5.0 mph.
When attacking, a typical shark can reach what speed?
A: 12 mph.
With burst speeds up to 31 mph, what is the fastest shark?
A: The shortfin mako.
How far can sharks travel in a day?
A: About 50 miles.
What shark is also the largest fish in the world with a length of up to 39 feet?
A: Whale shark.
Where are sharks are found?
A: All seas and depths of 6,600 ft.
What type of sharks can survive in fresh water?
A: Bull shark and River shark.
Sharks breathe through how many gill slits?
A: Five to seven.
Sharks have several sets of replaceable what?
A: Teeth.
Before the 16th century sharks were commonly called what?
A: Sea dogs.
How long ago does evidence of sharks exist?
A: From the Ordovician period, 450–420 million years ago.
Most modern sharks can be traced back to about how many
years ago?
A: 100 million.
Most shark fossils are what?
A: Teeth.
What are shark teeth made of?
A: Calcium phosphate.
Some species of sharks, like the nurse shark, can pump water across their own gills which allows them to rest where?
A: On the ocean bottom.
Sharks can detect the electromagnetic fields that all
living things produce which helps them do what?
A: Find prey.
The shark has the greatest "what" of any
animal?
A: Electrical sensitivity.
Sharks can find prey that are hidden in under the sand by
detecting what?
A: The electric fields they produce.
Among the oldest and most primitive sharks is one named what, from about 370 million years ago?
A: Cladoselache.
Mackerel shark teeth fossils date back to what period?
A: Early Cretaceous.
Emerging in the Eocene, one of the most recently evolved shark families is the what?
A: Hammerhead.
Early white sharks attained huge proportions and included the now extinct what?
A: C. megalodon.
As with most extinct sharks, C. megalodon is primarily known from its fossil teeth and what?
A: Vertebrae.
This giant shark C. megalodon may reached a total length of more than how long?
A: 67 ft.
Instead of being directly affixed to their jaws, sharks teeth are embedded in their gums and are constantly being what?
A: Replaced.
How many teeth do sharks lose over their life?
A: 30,000 or more.
Sharks replace their teeth anywhere from once every 8 to 10
days to how long
A: Several months.
Most shark species replaced their teeth one at a time, not
an entire row at a time, which is observed in what type of shark?
A: Cookiecutter shark.
Jaws of Sharks jaws are not attached to the what?
A: Cranium.
How many fins do most sharks have?
A: Eight.
Sharks, unlike bony fish do not have swim bladders for what?
A: Buoyancy.
Sand tiger sharks store what in their stomachs for use as a swim bladder?
A: Air.
What do most sharks have to do order to breathe?
A: Swim constantly.
How long do most shark species live?
A: 20 to 30 years.
How long can whale sharks live?
A: Over 100 years.
