The sad truth: No shark, no sea

The shark - the evil monster from the deep, just waiting for innocent surfers or swimmers to attack in cold blood. Unfortunately, this is the image that far too many people still have of this sea creature. This prejudice is fueled by the film industry and classic films such as "Jaws" from 1975. In fact, sharks have an incredibly important role play a role in the health of the oceans and without the shark there would be no ocean.

Why this is so and what the biggest Driven You can find out more about the sharks in this blog article. We also address the most common Prejudices about sharks!

If we humans were asked, many would unfortunately answer that they could happily do without the existence of sharks. But our oceans absolutely cannot!

In fact, the extinction of sharks would be fatal for the ecological balance underwater. Sharks are almost always at the top of the ocean's food chain and they hunt old, sick, or smaller fish. This keeps the fish populations healthy and ensures a balanced population . Scientists have clearly demonstrated that a decline in the shark population has a negative impact on the populations of commercially important fish species or those important for maintaining healthy coral reefs.

This is simply because, for example, smaller predatory fish would increase in numbers, which in turn would affect even smaller fish species, such as the parrotfish, which is an important herbivorous inhabitant of coral reefs. The balance in the food chain would no longer be the case. If we think further, this unbalanced relationship would have serious consequences for large parts of the Population in the global South, some of whom depend on fishing.

Another example of this interdependence can be found in tiger sharks. Tiger sharks feed primarily on turtles, which in turn feed on seagrass. When tiger sharks are absent, the turtles spend a lot of time staying in the same spot, grazing the entire seagrass patch, rendering it unusable as a habitat. However, when threatened by a tiger shark, the turtles are not exclusively preoccupied with feeding and move across different seagrass patches.

Sharks also only get comparatively Rarely produce offspring . Some shark species give birth to live young, while others lay eggs. For most sharks, it can take years before they give birth to their next offspring. This is the opposite of most fish species, which lay thousands upon thousands of eggs and continually hatch new offspring. In the long run, if the number of sharks continues to decline, the fish population would quickly become unbalanced. Researchers even suspect that a coral reef would die completely within a year without the presence of sharks.

Sharks have existed for an incredible 400 million years on this planet! They even survived the extinction of the dinosaur and are therefore among the oldest animal species in the world. It is all the more sad that a large proportion of the approximately 500 shark species are now massively extinct threatened with extinction is.

Prejudices and misconceptions about sharks

But although sharks play such an important role in the ecosystem, there are still several Errors and Prejudices about these fascinating creatures. We've collected and corrected the most common misconceptions for you here!

Ever since films like "Jaws", "Open Water" or "The Shallows", the image of the evil white shark has been alive in the minds of many. It is indeed the case that the white shark is one of the few shark species that occasionally However, incidents of this kind are extremely rare and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has only 205 attacks on humans by the great white shark.

A comparison: Every year around 100 people are injured in accidents involving dogs, whereas around 25,000 people are injured each year.

However, due to the fact that shark attacks on humans do occur from time to time, the rumor persists that sharks People eat But we're not even on the menu of these seemingly dangerous animals. Sharks feed on small whales, seals, penguins, dolphins, and larger predatory fish.

In some few cases Tragically, it happens that a person is completely eaten by a shark. However, attacks on humans usually occur through curiosity or the threat by the unknown object on the water surface. Therefore, it is increasingly referred to as a Shark accident , instead of a shark attack.

In connection with the accidents, there is also another widespread misconception: sharks attack surfers because they identify them with their prey, the However, according to the latest findings , this statement does not seem to be true. The bite marks are not deep enough to indicate a serious attack and attempted murder. Rather, it is suspected that Test bite behind this behavior.

Many holidaymakers are worried about swimming in the open sea if they have a Injury or their period This is also due to the many films in which a shark is seen from miles away from a Drop of blood and tears the surfer or swimmer to pieces in a blood frenzy. And yes, it is true that sharks can smell blood from a distance of about one to two kilometers in good conditions. However, they do not react to the smell of human blood, but to Fish blood .

To detect their prey, sharks also usually use the so-called Ampullae of Lorenzini , located around their snouts. These tiny sensors allow sharks to They can detect electromagnetic fields triggered by an animal's movement or heartbeat. This is what makes sharks such successful predators.

Even if the up to six meters Although the Great White Shark can boast a proud size, it is not one of the largest shark species. Basking shark up to ten meters long. However, the first place goes to the Whale shark . This species of shark can grow to between 12 and 14 meters in length. Despite their enormous size, whale sharks are among the most harmless sharks of all, feeding exclusively on animal plankton.

The largest shark in the history of our earth was probably the Megalodon . Researchers believe that this shark species could grow up to 20 meters long. However, its exact appearance can only be guessed at based on fossilized teeth of the Megalodon. Since sharks are among the Cartilaginous fish and their skeleton is made of cartilage and not bone, there are no bone finds like with dinosaurs.

Although more and more work is being done to dispel all these prejudices, the situation regarding the whereabouts of most sharks is unfortunately getting worse. 100 People who are attacked by a shark every year are around 100 million sharks killed by humans each year. Today, more than 75% of all sharks are acutely threatened with extinction.

Behind these brutal slaughters lies not only the Fear from the animals, which can reach up to six meters in length. Sharks sometimes die unintentionally by being Bycatch end up in fishing nets. However, sharks are often deliberately hunted to get to the Meat or the fins Shark fins are considered a delicacy or medicine in many places and are given to sharks by the so-called Finning brutally removed.

It is estimated that this fate befalls between 63 million and 273 million sharks each year. living body the fin is cut off and the body is then thrown back into the sea, where the sharks eventually die a painful death.

In the ocean, the wounded sharks are then either picked up by other animals eaten up or they suffocate . Sharks must constantly move to absorb oxygen-rich water through their gills. Without their fins, this is no longer possible.

In order to protect sharks from extinction, it is therefore all the more important to learn about these amazing animals and their important role in the ocean to clarify . Through targeted projects and pressure on the Politics , we can take action against the hunting of sharks and ensure that they remain on Earth for centuries to come.

We have chosen our new Special Edition therefore partnered with an organization that is committed to protecting Thresher sharks on the Indonesian island of Alor. Find out what the goal of this project is and why the thresher shark is particularly endangered there in our next blog post!