Page 24 - World of Animals - Book of Sharks & Ocean Predators

Sharks & Ocean Predators
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43

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Sharks have an incredible sense
Can sharks smell of smell, and can tell which
direction a smell comes from
blood from miles with their separate nostrils.
away, and if so how?

The open-water species can detect blood at concentrations
as low as one part per million, but they are even more

attracted to the smell of fish guts. By comparing the timing
of the scent’s arrival at each nostril, they can tell its direction
and quickly home in on distant prey.
Eyelid
The eyes roll back in
their sockets before the
shark strikes.

© Science Photo Library

44 How do

sharks attack?

Only a few species of shark are solitary ambush predators

– many are filter feeders or eat small fish and crustaceans

above so their light-coloured bellies make them hard to 45
on the seabed. The aggressive hunters – tiger shark, bull
shark and great white – usually patrol close to the surface.
They attack at dawn or dusk, when light is poor, and from
spot against the sky. Some species of shark have an extra
transparent eyelid (called a nictitating membrane) that can What are the
shield their eyes, but the great white does not, so it rolls its
eyes back in their sockets just before its strike connects, to weirdest items
protect them. Very often sharks will pursue a hit-and-run
technique, taking a single bite out of their prey and then found in a shark?
retreating to allow it to bleed to death.
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Great white sharks roll their (All found in the stomachs of tiger sharks, which are the
eyes when they attack most indiscriminate feeders.)

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