Sink Your Teeth Into This Shark Fact

 A shark's teeth are constantly replaced throughout it's life.

Picture from Mad Betty

 Multiple rows of replacement teeth grow in a groove on the inside of the jaw and steadily move forward.   Some sharks lose 30,000 or more teeth in their lifetime. The rate of tooth replacement varies from once every eight to ten days to several months. In most species, teeth are replaced one at a time as opposed to the simultaneous replacement of an entire row. 

Monsters Of The Deep

There's more to fear in the water besides Jaws... a lot more. And although it's true that you're never going to encounter many of these terrifying underwater creatures - who live at depths of up to 16,000 feet - just the thought that they exist is enough to give us nightmares.

Fangtooth Fish

The larger fangs on the lower jaw of the fangtooth fish are so long that the species has actually evolved a pair of opposing sockets on both sides of the brain for the fangs to slip into when the mouth is closed. Despite that gruesome physical feature, the fangtooth fish are relatively small (around 7 inches) and are said to be harmless to humans.

Striated Dogfish (or Anglerfish)

While some members of this species look like furry cousins of Nemo, this one looks like something strait out of the movie "Critters". Another creepy trait: these fish don't swim but "walk" using their pectoral fins.

Frill Shark

Could this be the animal that inspired sea monster tales? The frill shark has a long, eel-like which it can bend like a snake. Its mouth houses 25 rows of teeth (approximately 300 total).

Fangtooth Moray Eel

We're happy to know that the fangtooth moray eels typically likes to hide in crevices rather than swim out in the open, making the chances of running into one of these toothy creatures - which can get up to 10 feet long  - highly unlikely.

Anaconda

Perhaps this isn't technically a creature of the deep, since they prefer shallow, stagnant bodies of water. But we're including it because... well look at this picture! We certainly wouldn't want to meet these giant snakes underwater.

Things NOT On Our Bucket List: Shark Cage Diving

While shark cage diving is high on the bucket lists of many people, we can firmly say it is NOT on ours. Especially after watching this terrifying video two tourists shot while cage diving. A shark actually came into their cage and then got stuck, leaving them trapped at the bottom of the cage!


No thanks, we can lead a very happy life without having that experience! Want to see some more thrilling shark images? Then read this post and this post from our archives!

Picture Of The Week - Jaws In Real Life

This is terrifying. It's the stuff nightmares are made of. And what makes it even more terrifying is knowing there are people who have seen this in real life, up close and personal.

Although shark attacks are relatively rare, they happen enough to make us fear this awesome creature. It's images like this that make us VERY afraid to go into the water.

Picture Of The Week - Need A Lift?

Here's a picture you definitely don't see every day (or ever). This shot, an entry in the National Geographic Traveler Photo contest, shows a marine nomad child hitching an underwater ride on a shark pal of his.

In case you're wondering what marine nomads are (like we were), here's the scoop: Marine nomads are people who live their lives at seas, on small boats, and rarely step foot on land. These people live in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia but their numbers are dwindling. Click here to read more.

Image via.

The Goblin Shark

Sharks are scary enough, but that scare factor increases quite a bit when they have a long, spear-shaped appendage on their head! Say hello the goblin shark, a deep-sea shark and the lone member of the Mitsukurinidae family. Looks a bit like something you would see in a sci-fi movie, doesn't it?

The goblin shark is known, obviously, for its long, spearlike snout, which is much larger than the snouts of other shark species. It also has a jaw that can be protruded and retracted. They can be found throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico, but are most commonly sighted around Japan (where they were discovered).

Though the goblin shark looks scary, you can rest easy that the likelihood of running into one is much more rare than, say, a great white. They live in waters that reach more than 200 feet deep. Aside for their carnivorous eating habits, not much is known about the goblin sharks because they living environment makes it very difficult to observe.

The Kansas City Sea Life Aquarium Review

We're wrapping up our coverage of our visit to the Kansas City Sea Life Aquarium! Today we wanted to give you a rundown of the features and exhibits that we fell in love with, the ones that will absolutely keep us going back to the aquarium time and again.

1) The touch pond. This one should be pretty self explanatory, because, really, how many chances do you get to touch a star fish? Or a spiny urchin or a limpit? It was also funny to see the difference in the ways people approached the touch pond - some dove their hands right in to pick up and feel every creature while others were more hesitant to put their hand in the water.

2) The jellyfish tank. We talked about this in our Wednesday post, but the jellyfish tank really was one of the coolest things we've seen. It just sucked you right in, with the lights and the soft music playing in that section. The jellyfish looked so etheral, just floating there. Really and truly, we would have spent hours just staring at that exhibit if we could have.

3) The underwater tunnel. There were multiple reasons why we loved this part of the aquarium  For one, having the fish swim over and around you reminded us of how it feels to go snorkeling or scuba diving (and gave us a craving to back into the sea)! Two, it's fun to see the fish from below, rather than just from the side or above as with many aquarium tanks. And three, even though there was thick glass between us and the fish, it felt like we were really close to them. One of the best parts of our trip was taking pictures of a manta ray and then turning around to see a shark swim right by our faces!

So there you have it, a few of the things we absolutely loved about the Kansas City Sea Life Aquarium. Have you convinced you to visit it yet? If so, you can buy your tickets here.

Animal Facts - The Black Tipped Reef Shark

Time to cue the "Jaws" music! The black tipped reef shark, which lives off the coasts of the Indian and Pacific oceans, prefers to swim in very shallow waters, sometimes not more than a foot deep! They can often be seen swimming along the shore, with their dorsal fin sticking up out of the water.

Learn more about the black tipped reef shark in this blog post from our archives!