Questions people actually ask
Short answers, each with its source. Longer ones live on the topic pages.
How many kinds of shark are there?
There are more than 500 species of shark. Wikipedia
What’s the biggest shark?
The whale shark is the largest known living fish. A whale shark 18.8 m (61.7 ft) long is considered the largest reliably recorded. Wikipedia
What’s the smallest shark?
The dwarf lanternshark is the smallest shark in the world, reaching a maximum known length of 20 cm (8 in). Wikipedia
Do sharks have bones?
Sharks are cartilaginous fish: their skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone, and they have five to seven gill slits on each side of the head. Wikipedia
Do sharks lay eggs?
Sharks have their young in three ways: laying eggs, keeping the eggs inside until they hatch, or growing the young without a traditional egg at all. The last two both end in live birth. Wikipedia Egg-laying sharks include the horn shark, catsharks, the Port Jackson shark and the swellshark. Wikipedia
What is a mermaid’s purse?
An egg case, often called a mermaid’s purse, is the casing around the eggs of egg-laying sharks, skates and chimaeras. Wikipedia
When can I see basking sharks in the Isle of Man?
Between May and August, basking sharks feed on plankton blooms around the Isle of Man. Manx Wildlife Trust They can turn up all round the island, but the stretch from Peel down to the Calf of Man is where they are most reliably found. Manx Wildlife Trust
Are basking sharks dangerous?
It is one of only three plankton-eating sharks, along with the whale shark and the megamouth. Wikipedia Basking sharks feed slowly, at about 2 knots (3.7 km/h), and don’t swim away from approaching boats. Wikipedia
How long do sharks live?
The Greenland shark has the longest lifespan of any known vertebrate: an estimated 272 to 510 years. Wikipedia Whale sharks are thought to live for between 80 and 130 years. Wikipedia
How fast can a shark swim?
The shortfin mako is the fastest known shark, reaching 74 km/h (46 mph) in bursts. Wikipedia
How many people do sharks bite?
The International Shark Attack File confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites worldwide in 2025, in line with its 2020–2024 average of 61 a year. ISAF
Why are sharks in trouble?
A 2021 study in Nature found that, since 1970, the number of oceanic sharks and rays had fallen by 71%, driven by an 18-fold increase in fishing pressure. Nature