What is unique about the Cookiecutter shark?
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What is unique about the Cookiecutter shark?
The cookiecutter shark gets its name from the cookie-shaped bite wounds it leaves on its prey. The shark’s unique teeth and short, coned snout create these round chunks. It will attach itself to a tuna, marlin, stingray, another shark, or even a whale, by suctioning its lips to the body of the animal.
The sharks have been known to prey on a wide variety of marine animals, including swordfish, whales, orcas and even a human swimmer — and now, great white sharks. Cookiecutter sharks range throughout the world in tropical and subtropical waters.
Do sharks ever attack whales?
They have also been known to attack smaller cetacean species, such as the harbor porpoise and bottlenose dolphin. But while other species of shark, such as dusky sharks, have been known to prey on live humpback whales, this is the first example of white sharks doing the same.
A type of dogfish shark, cookiecutters inhabit deep tropical waters and their bites have been found on many animals, including tuna, whales, dolphins, swordfish and elephant seals.
The cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), also called the cigar shark, is a species of small squaliform shark in the family Dalatiidae. This shark occurs in warm, oceanic waters worldwide, particularly near islands, and has been recorded as deep as 3.7 km (2.3 mi).
Where are Cookiecutter sharks found?
The cookiecutter shark also lives in the waters of the Indo-Pacific from Mauritius to New Guinea, Lord Howe Island, and New Zealand north to Japan and east to the Hawaiian Islands. It is found off Easter Island and the Galapagos in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Why are great white sharks so scarred?
“Females are often heavily scarred from mating behaviour but males can get bitten as well during dominance interactions between sharks e.g. a larger shark may want a smaller shark and dominate the smaller individual with a non-fatal warning bite.
Despite their reputation, sharks historically have not posed a widespread danger to people. Only two other cases involving attacks on humans by cookiecutter sharks have been widely accepted by experts, but both those attacks were on human cadavers, one a drowning victim and the other a suicide.
What is the biggest shark?
Whale shark
Sharks/Biggest
The largest is the whale shark, which has been known to get as large as 18 meters (60 feet). The smallest fits in your hand. And the great white shark is somewhere in the middle. See photos and learn more about the wide diversity of sharks, read 5 reasons to revere sharks, and see even more articles about sharks.