Sharks Food

• Sharks and rays have a very varied diet. They are carnivores which means that they eat animals rather than plants and algae. Some sharks commonly eat bony fishes, crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, and other animals with an external skeleton), mollusks(snails, sea slugs, octopus and squids), and different types of worms.

• A shark’s diet is often determined by its habitat. For example, sharks that live out at sea (pelagic sharks) are more likely to eatfish and squid because that is all that is available.

• Sometimes sharks change their diet as they get older. The Great White Shark mainly eats fish when it is young but once it reaches maturity it consumes more marine mammals like seals and sea lions.

• Most sharks prefer live food but they will also consume carrion (dead fish and other animals) that they find on the sea floor.

• Just like filter feeding whales, there are a few sharks that live by filtering plankton from the water. The filter feeding sharks may consume phytoplankton (microscopic plants and algae) while hunting for more nourishing zooplankton (tiny animals and larvae that drifts around on the currents). Ironically, the Whale Shark which is the largest fish in the sea, lives on plankton which is one of the smallest animals. So does the second largest fish; the Basking Shark. Although these sharks have huge mouths, their throats are tiny and they are unable to eat anything larger than a grapefruit. Their teeth which are no longer needed for feeding, have become very small.

• The largest ray (the Manta Ray) is also a plankton feeder. It has a flexible projection on each side of its mouth called cephalic lobes that it uses to funnel plankton towards its mouth.

• Most rays eat small fishes and benthic invertebrates; crabs, snails, and worms etc. that live on or under the sand.

• Sometimes its possible to tell what type of food a shark eats by the shape of its teeth. Sharks that catch fast swimming fishes tend to have very pointed teeth that help them grasp the fish. Sharks that eat hard shelled animals have flattened teeth that form a plate to help them crush the creature’s shell like a nutcracker.

• Tiger Sharks have a reputation for eating anything. They have been found with all sorts of strange things in their stomachs from clothes to license plates. Tiger Sharks have very sharp serrated teeth that are strong enough to bite through the shells of marineturtles.