Post #14158

White shark: 5 reasons why this fish is the ocean's most dangerous predator In 1975, great white sharks around the world became the focus of public attention, interest and fear all at once. The film Jaws, released that year, disgraced the reputation of sea predators for decades. If Jaws had starred a grizzly bear or a lion, or even a vine snail (30,000 teeth, by the way!), would they have found the same fame as white sharks? Hardly. Spielberg knew well where to cast his net in the sea of ​​human fears. People were afraid of sharks long before Jaws, they are afraid now, and we, rest assured, will pass this credo on to our descendants. And there are several reasons for this. Reason No. 1. Appearance The fear of sharks is something almost primal. The peoples of Oceania worshiped white sharks as gods, and among sailors there is still a superstition that a shark following a ship will lead to inevitable death. Yes, the great white shark is far from the largest predator in the ocean and not even the largest among its group. But how can you not be afraid of a colossus weighing a ton and five meters long? And such dimensions are not the limit! Today's record holder is the Deep Blue fish, its length reaches 6.1 m. For those who are as poor in spatial imagination as I am: 6 meters is the size of a minibus. Why do sharks grow so gigantic? To climb to the very top of the food chain, of course. Reason #2: Super Predator Superpowers A scary view of the ocean alone won't get you far. To become an apex predator, evolution cranked up each of the fish's five senses to the max. Tiny eyes see much more than you expect from them: they are good at distinguishing light, shadow and even some colors. The sense of touch is also not so simple: sharks have a special organ that detects the movement of an object in the water nearby - the lateral line. With its help, you can be “touched” and evaluated even without direct contact. Based on vibrations and changes in water pressure. Another fancy tool for finding prey is electroreception. The entire head of the fish is covered with ampoules of Lorenzini. These are special sensory organs with which the shark detects any electrical impulse nearby: from the slightest contraction of the limbs to the beating of the victim’s heart. Direct contact will ensure a fall. Those famous jaws close with a force of 18,000 Newtons. This is the power of a hydraulic press. Add to this several rows of teeth - the white shark has about 300 of them - and you get a living trap! The white shark is missing prey. She tears pieces from it. What about the sense of smell? Of course, predators are not capable of catching a drop of blood at a distance of several kilometers - this is a myth. But this does not change the fact that the great white is the best sniffer among other sharks! This is indicated by the giant olfactory bulbs - they occupy up to 18% of the total brain volume. If we imagine that we place a shark in a pool and drop