THE ULTIMATE MARINE PREDATOR
Shark! The mere word is enough to strike fear and loathing into most people’s hearts. Shout it on any popular Australian beach and you’re likely to trigger a floundering stampede of bathers and board riders from a refreshing surf on a hot summer day.
Our perception of sharks as malevolent maneaters is a lingering stereotype created by the 1975 blockbuster movie Jaws, and a gross mischaracterisation of one of the ocean’s most majestic creatures. Far from being the monstrous villains portrayed by Hollywood, sharks are crucial to the health of all marine ecosystems, maintaining a balance in the natural order of a global food chain that ultimately supports humankind.
Sharks have been swimming the world’s oceans for millions of years and become perfectly adapted for their role as an apex marine predator with few rivals. However, sharks have good cause to fear humans — more than we have to fear from them. Within the last 50 years, global populations have been decimated by a host of man-made pressures that have pushed some species to the brink of extinction. Sharks now represent the largest group of threatened marine species on the planet.
It’s time to set the record straight and shed some light on the most feared and fascinating of all sea creatures.
SHARKS AND THEIR HABITATS
Sharks belong to an order of cartilaginous fish that includes rays, skates and sawfish. This group first appeared in the evolutionary calendar about 420 million years ago. Worldwide, there are more than 510 species of
