A shark, a bloodthirsty predator, a thunderstorm of the seas and oceans, attacks with lightning speed, does not know pity, is deadly. This short but true characterization concerns only three species of sharks. Extremely fast and aggressive four-meter shark “mako”, brown death. Great white shark, length 6-7 meters, the prototype of the monster in the movie "Jaws". And a tiger shark, five meters long, the most fearless, able to attack even a whale. Only three sharks from more than 400 species. The remaining sharks are less dangerous due to slowness, not very aggressive and often just a cowardly character. However, if a shark is hungry, it becomes very dangerous. And if the shark suddenly sensed the smell of blood, it instantly flips out and it becomes a killing machine.
The most dangerous sharks are thermophilic, staying closer to the equator. Favorite habitats for mako and tiger sharks are warm waters in the coastal zone. And the white shark feels great anywhere in the seas and oceans. Sharks, as representatives of marine fauna, do not have a herd instinct and very rarely gather in flocks. They prefer to hunt alone and only during the breeding season they begin to communicate with each other. Millions of years of existence - such a long evolution once and for all determined the rules of shark life and it will never become another.
The main and only weapon of a marine predator is the teeth, or rather the jaw with several rows of teeth. How many rows of teeth a shark has depends on its type. The load on the teeth of the shark is unprecedented, it has to grab everything indiscriminately, the teeth break, crumble and fall out. Therefore, nature has taken care of the predator, and the shark has a genetic mechanism for changing teeth. This process is fast, and it depends on how many teeth the shark will have in the near future. Cyclic tooth changes about once every two weeks in young individuals and once every two months in old sharks. Moreover, new teeth do not grow in place of the fallen, but already lie ready, clinging to the gums. Old teeth leave, a new row rises and is ready to work. Thus, a shark always has several rows of new teeth in its stock, and the question of how many teeth a shark has is not worth it.
For example, the white shark and the tiger always have “mouth full of teeth”. In each of the 4-6 rows, bent back and pressed, there are up to 300 teeth. There have been several attempts to calculate how many teeth a whale shark has. It turns out about 15 thousand. The shape of each tooth in different sharks is also different. Classical triangular in the white shark and teeth of complex shape with small serrations along the edges of the tiger shark. Some species of sharks have irregular, somewhat abstract teeth. From the base to the tip, the tooth bends and becomes thin. Such a tooth will not bite something solid, but if it clings to any flesh, it will be tight, will not let go. There are usually fewer such teeth in the mouth of a shark, since they break less often. The task of such teeth is to tear the flesh of the victim, and not to cut and crumble it.
Sometimes a shark rises two or three rows of teeth during a hunt, but only the front row is constantly involved in both the upper and lower jaws. The jaws and teeth of sharks are a fairly complex and at the same time well-functioning system. Nature gave bottom sharks, for example, smaller teeth, but with sharpened edges, to make it easier to bite through the shells of crabs and lobsters, chitinous shells of crayfish and sea snails. But it is not known how many sharks have teeth, if she lives in the near-bottom zone, some have more, others less. Sharks swimming in the upper layers of the body of water, feeding on seals and seals, naturally received long curved, dagger-like teeth that pierce deep into the victim's body. And mother nature does not limit anyone in the number of teeth, and there is only one answer to the question of how many teeth a shark has: "as much as you need."
