when you think of a shark
what do you picture in your mind do you
think of a big thing sticking out of the
water or maybe a huge set of sharp teeth
sharks are some of the most famous
animals in the ocean but do you know
what makes a shark shark
well for one thing all sharks are fish
that might not surprise you since they
live and swim in the water but sharks
are a special kind of fish one of the
things that makes them different from
other fish like goldfish is that sharks
have a special skeleton our skeletons
are made of bone and so are the
skeletons of most kinds of fish but a
shark skeleton isn't made of bone it's
made of cartilage and you have cartilage
in your body to you can feel it right
now touch the tip of your nose wiggling
around how's it feel
what about your ear can you bend it
you're sure cam because the tip of your
nose and your ear aren't filled with
bone they're filled with cartilage
cartilage is a lot lighter than bone and
it bends easily so having a skeleton
made of this stuff help sharks would
further and faster than if their
skeletons were made of bone now let's
look at another body part that sharks
are famous for their teeth have you ever
lost a baby tooth and then an adult
tooth grew in well sharks loser teeth
all the time throughout their entire
lives and they just keep growing new
ones how can they do that you and I just
have one row of teeth in her mouth but
sharks have a lot of rows of teeth on
the top and the bottom so when a shark
loses a tooth another tooth that's right
behind it can just move on up to take
its place because they always have new
teeth to replace the old ones some
sharks can lose thousands of teeth
during their lives alright the next cool
thing about sharks their skin if you
could rub the skin of a shark you'd find
that it would feel smooth here and your
hand in one direction but if you rub
your hand the other way it would feel
rough like a cat's talk that's because a
shark skin is covered in top body skills
that actually look a little like tiny
teeth these little scales are stacked on
top of each other like tiles on a route
this helps sharks swim through the water
quickly and quietly so those are some of
the things that all sharks have but
there are over 400
50 types of sharks in the world and that
means a lot of differences to take a
look at this one it's called a whale
shark and it's the biggest shark there
is in fact is the largest fish in the
whole world
whale sharks can grow to be as long as a
school was but even though they're so
big they eat tiny plants and super small
animals called plankton that flow in the
water but not all sharks are as big as
the whale shark some can also be tiny
meet the dwarf lanternshark it's so
small it could fit in my hand this sharp
lives in the deep ocean where there's
very little light so it has big eyes to
help see in the dark plus it has a
really neat feature
yes special organs on its belly fins and
tail that actually glow scientists think
this might help the lanternshark Lauren
pray for it to eat
plus when it's in shallow water where
there's more light these blowing lights
can help it blend in to avoid predators
finally I'd like you to meet a very
special shark say hello to the Greenland
shark this big shark spends most of its
time swimming in very cold water hanging
out near the sea floor looking for an
easy snack but scientists have recently
discovered something amazing about these
animals Greenland sharks can live to be
up to 400 years old
of all the animals in the world with
backbones known as vertebrates Greenland
sharks live the longest at least that we
know what scientists are still
discovering new kinds of sharks all the
time so who knows what kind of super
sharks are still out there waiting to be
found
what's your favorite animal do you want
to learn more about it just ask a
grown-up to help you and leave a comment
below or send us an email to kids at the
size of dot-com we're excited to hear
from you
oh and we're also really excited because
we're making some changes to the fort so
stay tuned and we'll share a few
surprises with you in the upcoming weeks
thanks mostly excited here before