Do You Like Sharks? 🦈

Sharks existed long before dinosaurs, as they appeared 400 million years ago. But fossils are rare because the skeletal cartilage eventually degrades.

One of the oldest species still occurring today is the frilled shark Chlamydoselachus anguineus. Records of this species date back 80 million years and it is believed to have inspired the sea snakes’ myths.

The shark is represented in different cultures on the planet from the most ancient peoples to the present day.

Literature and cinema present it as a great predator and the main threat to human beings who venture into the ocean.

The abyssal depths of the Portuguese coast allowed several deep-sea species to have been first described by Portuguese naturalists.

José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (1823-1907) collaborated with Félix de Brito Capello (1828-1879) and described a new species of shark, in 1864, the Portuguese dogfish, Centroscymnus coelolepis.

Sophisticated biology and the high diversity of shark species are the result of millions of years of evolution. There are more than 500 species of sharks in the planet's oceans.

Shark species occur in all marine habitats: in the deep and open ocean, on coral reefs and in the frigid Arctic.

Despite the bad name, not all sharks bite. There are several species of filter sharks such as the whale shark Rhincodon typus or the basking shark Cetorhinus maximus.

The two biggest fish in the world feed on small crustaceans which they gently filter for hours with their large mouths.

Sharks have survived four periods of mass extinctions and have gone through periods of major environmental change on the planet. They are a living example of the importance of biological diversity for the survival and evolution of life in the oceans.

Will we be able to learn from them?