How Sharks Swim - EnchantedLearning.com

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Table of Contents

Enchanted Learning
All About Sharks!

Geologic Time Chart

Introduction to Sharks

Introduction to Rays

Anatomy

Shark and Ray Species

Printables, Worksheets, and Activities

SHARK ANATOMY

General Anatomy
Shape
Skeleton
Size
Life Span

Teeth
Skin
Digestion
Diet, Drinking
Tongue

Male or Female?
Reproduction
Gills, Spiracles
Swimming
Liver, Buoyancy

Brain
Senses
Heart, Circulatory System
Hot- or Cold-Blooded

SHARK SWIMMING

Shark swimming is more like flying than swimming.

Some sharks are fast-swimming (up to 40 mph or 64.4 kph) predators that live in the open ocean, some are slow-swimming bottom dwellers that eat shell fish, and some are slow-swimming filter-feeders that sieve tiny animals and plants to eat.

Unlike fish, sharks cannot stop suddenly or swim backwards. A shark's pectoral fins cannot bend upwards like a fish, limiting its swimming ability to forward motion. If a shark needs to move backwards, it uses gravity to fall, not swim backwards. Sharks must swerve to the side in order not to hit something - they cannot simply stop.

Some sharks (like the great white shark) swim by propelling itself through the water using its tail. The fins are only used for balance. Other sharks, like the whale shark, move their bodies from side to side to propel themselves through the water.

A shark must keep swimming or it will sink.

SHARK ANATOMY

General Anatomy
Shape
Skeleton
Size
Life Span

Teeth
Skin
Digestion
Diet, Drinking
Tongue

Male or Female?
Reproduction
Gills, Spiracles
Swimming
Liver, Buoyancy

Brain
Senses
Heart, Circulatory System
Hot- or Cold-Blooded

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