Sharks
Great White, Basking, and Mako Shark Adaptations
Great White Shark
- Heat Adaptation: The Great White has such heat exchanges around its brain,stomach, and swimming muscles, so that it can swim normally in the
- Silent Skin Adaptation: Like other sharks, the skin of a Great White is tough and has scales, dermal denticles. They protect the Great White's skin from any damage and kind of like cells, replaced continually. The dermal denticles have many raised ridges and they reduce any noise by the shark's swimming, letting the shark move quickly and silently through still water.
- Lateral Line Adaptation: Like a lot of other sharks, Great White's have vibration detectors or "lateral line" along their flanks. Both make the Great White Shark almost "feel" the way the water changed at the cause of a struggling animal which makes prey easier to catch in the dark waters.
Basking Shark
- Structural Adaptations It has a huge mouth which it uses to collect tiny food that floats in the water. Its huge gills are bristle-like rakers, that filters its food from the water. The water is expelled through the shark's 5 pairs of gill slits. The shark can process over 1500 gallons of water each hour.
- Behavioral Adaptations Basking sharks live in coastal temperate waters. They spend most of their time at the surface. Basking sharks migrate seasonally, eating in cool northern waters, moving south during the winter. Basking sharks are slow swimmers, going no more than 3 mph. They swim by moving their entire bodies from side to side (not just their tails, like some other sharks do).
Mako Shark
- Camouflages the Mako sharks into their deep ocean environment; deep purple or indigo on top makes them blend into the water (if looking down), while silvery white on bottom makes them blend into sky (if looking up).
- Body temperature is warmer than prey and .06 degrees Celsius warmer than the water temperature, (endothermic circulatory system).
- Being warm blooded gives them an advantage because it allows them to move faster in the water. They have a strong caudal fin because it allows them to propel themselves through the water quickly and jump out of the water. Highly developed eyes allow for accurate sight to catch prey in dim water. Knife like teeth are adapted for spearing fish in order to eat them.