🦈Sharks
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the division Selachii and are the sister group to the Batomorphi. Some sources extend the term "shark" as an informal category including extinct members of Chondrichthyes with a shark-like morphology, such as hybodonts. Shark-like chondrichthyans such as Cladoselache and Doliodus first appeared in the Devonian Period, though some fossilized chondrichthyan-like scales are as old as the Late Ordovician. The earliest confirmed modern sharks (Selachii) are known from the Early Jurassic around 200 million years ago, with the oldest known member being Agaleus, though records of true sharks may extend back as far as the Permian.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Red List assesses individual species. Each animal in this group has its own status.
- Body mass
- 5,366 kg
- Body length
- 6.28 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 46 years
Everything we know about Sharks
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass5,366 kgaverage444–18,700 kg · range across the groupaggregated across membersDetails ↓Hide ↑
range across 4 member species
Body length6.28 maverage3.7–10 m · range across the groupaggregated across membersDetails ↓Hide ↑
range across 4 member species
Maximum lifespan46 yearsaverage30–54 years · range across the groupaggregated across membersDetails ↓Hide ↑
range across 4 member species
Litter sizeabout 113average6–300 · range across the groupaggregated across membersDetails ↓Hide ↑
range across 3 member species
Trophic level4.24average3.55–4.56 · range across the groupaggregated across membersDetails ↓Hide ↑
range across 4 member species
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Sharks yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
This is a group of animals, so here is where the group sits in the tree.
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
- subclassElasmobranchii
All 7 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
- subclassElasmobranchii
More about Sharks
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
Compare Sharks
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How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This group isn't in the sample yet.
See where it sits in the tree of life.