Herring shark: lifestyle, features of the structure, photo

In this article we want to talk about the famous predator - the herring shark. Have you ever heard of this? She has a lot of names, including a blue dog, a lamp, a bottle-nose, a mackerel, a mackerel shark, a porpoise , etc.

Atlantic herring shark

This shark belongs to the family of herring sharks of the order of lamelliform and has a characteristic appearance for this species.

All predators of this unit have five gill slits, dorsal and anal fins. They are armed with very sharp teeth, but they do not have a blinking membrane. These are the features of the structure of the herring shark. The appearance of the Atlantic shark is quite common for the representatives of this family. Body thick enough, spindle-shaped, caudal fin in the form of a crescent, snout acute, conical.

The upper part of the body has a bluish-gray color (from light and to the darkest shade), but the peritoneum is very light, almost white. There are no stains on the body.

Eyes are large. Teeth are large enough, triangular in shape, and in adults sharks at the base of each tooth grows a couple of small ones on both sides. Imagine that there are up to sixty teeth on each jaw.

A shark lives from twenty-five to thirty.

The Atlantic herring shark reaches a rather large size. There are facts about the existence of specimens up to 3.7 m in length with a weight of up to two hundred and thirty kilograms. However, the average average size of a predator is from one and a half to two meters, while its weight is about one hundred kilograms.

How does the Atlantic shark live?

The lifestyle of the herring shark is no different from the behavior of other representatives of this genus. She is constantly in motion throughout her life, resting sometimes on the bottom. The shark does not have a swim bladder, which means that it does not have the buoyancy that ordinary fish have. This fact forces her to move continuously, otherwise she will simply drown.

Even a dead herring shark never rises to the surface, it finds shelter at the bottom or becomes a prey for scavengers. In addition, she is able to maintain the desired temperature of her body, which is higher than the temperature of sea water. How does she manage it? The herring shark has its own mechanism of thermoregulation. Everything happens quite simply. Blood in the muscles circulates through special heat exchangers, where it heats up. Thus, the shark raises the temperature of the body by seven to ten degrees. Such an amazing property helps predators to quickly adapt to cold water and enables them to move faster in pursuit of prey.

Where do the herring sharks live?

The Atlantic herring shark lives in the water expanses that extend from the Western Atlantic and to Argentina and Brazil. The habitat is wide enough. In the east of the Atlantic shark is found both in Iceland and in South Africa. Sometimes it can be seen in the Mediterranean.

Atlantic shark can adapt well, and therefore it feels equally comfortable both in the open water area and in the coastal water area of islands and continents. For it, not very warm waters with a temperature of not more than twenty degrees are more preferable.

What does the Atlantic predator eat?

The basis of the diet of the shark is herring, and therefore fishermen believe that if you need a herring shark, you must first find a shoal of fish. Predator lives at a depth of 700-800 meters from the sea surface.

Its diet includes sardines, tuna, herring, mackerel. He also does not neglect bottom fish: squid, flounder, stingrays, crustaceans and small sharks. Atlantic shark is a very active and mobile predator. Often these fish gather in small flocks of ten to fifteen individuals, cruising at the sea surface, exposing the dorsal and caudal fins.

Such a gregarious habitat gives them the opportunity to effectively hunt, surrounding the schools of fish, they drive them to the center, into a tight circle, and then begin the meal. They lightly attack the victim, eagerly devouring her.

Sometimes sharks attack even fishing nets. They are incredibly overwhelmed by the sight of a large number of fish caught by fishermen, then they bite the nets, and the fish flock outward, right into the mouth of greedy predators. Once in the belly of one such shark, fifty-seven fish, measuring fifteen to twenty centimeters in size, were found. Impressive, is not it?

Reproduction of the Atlantic Shark

Herring sharks are a kind of egg-living predators. Fertilized eggs remain inside the fish until the birth of the offspring. The embryo is surrounded by a temporary envelope, which gradually disappears, and it begins to feed on the maternal secret. It should be noted that developing embryos at this time eat nearby unfertilized eggs. Pregnancy takes eight to nine months. In summer, sufficiently formed young individuals are born. At the same time, their length ranges from fifty to seventy centimeters. Each predator at a time can bring from two to five kids.

Industrial herring shark fishing

The herring shark (photo is given in the article) is not just a predator. Strangely enough, it is the target of industrial fishing in many countries: Canada, the USA, Norway, Ireland, Great Britain.

It turns out that the meat of thunderstorms of the seas is quite tasty, albeit with an unpleasant specific smell. However, with proper preparation, this defect is very simply eliminated. Particularly valuable are the fins, fat, liver and, of course, the skin. All parts of fish that are unsuitable for food, haberdashery or medicine, are sent to produce fishmeal.

Is a shark dangerous for a person?

Atlantic shark is fast and dangerous for humans. However, there is no reliable information about her attack on people. At present, several cases of bites inflicted by a predator have been recorded. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about the degree of its danger. But in any case it's better to be as far as possible from such a predator, because not just one of its names in antiquity came from the Greek expression "monster-cannibal". At present, thanks to industrial fishing, the Atlantic shark is not so easy to meet. It is almost non-existent in the Mediterranean, and yet recently it was quite a lot. Therefore, it was taken under protection by all-seeing ecologists as an individual, which is on the verge of extinction.

Pacific Shark

The Pacific herring shark is the closest relative of the Atlantic, from which it externally has a wide and short snout, as well as characteristic spots on the belly. In all other respects these predators are quite similar, although they live in completely different places. The salmon variety is found only in the north of the Pacific Ocean.

The streamlined body has a gray-blue color. The head of the shark is large, but shorter than that of its relative. This makes it similar to a small white shark. Such an unusual shark is a herring Pacific. The features of its structure are such that it also knows how to maintain the desired temperature of its body, which gives it the opportunity to dwell in cool waters and be more rapid and energetic.

The size of the Pacific shark

Pacific shark reaches quite a decent size. According to unofficial data, the length of her body is 4.3 meters, and the documented value is slightly more modest - 3.7 meters. And the weight reaches 454 kg. These are quite serious parameters for a predator. Females are usually larger than males. Interesting is the fact that in different regions of the habitat, the difference in the size of individuals is noted. Moreover, females predominate in the east of the Pacific Ocean, but in the west - males. The reason for this phenomenon is unknown. Females live to thirty years, and males - up to twenty.

The habitat of the Pacific shark

Pacific shark is found off the coast of Korea, Japan, in the Bering and Okhotsk seas, in the waters of the United States, its presence is recorded off the coast of Mexico and California. It is interesting that the Pacific herring shark, whose way of life is directly connected with the waters rich in food, does not descend to great depths. Below 500 meters from the surface of the sea, you will never find it.

What is the food for Pacific predators?

Sharks feed on medium-sized fish: mackerel, herring, ket, sockeye, pink salmon. In their diet there is also a bottom fish. In addition, a predator can afford to attack floating birds. Gathering in packs of twenty or thirty individuals, sharks organize collective hunting. The predator is so fast and mobile that sometimes even makes migratory transitions for potential food.

Pacific sharks breed in almost the same way as the Atlantic shark.

It is believed that this species is dangerous for humans, although the documents do not confirm the facts of the attack. But nevertheless predators have very large sizes and show aggression, and therefore one should be cautious in the regions where they live.

Some sources report shark attacks on divers, but such data have not been verified or verified. Moreover, this species is easily confused with others, and therefore there could be a mistake regarding the variety of the attacking predator.

Is the meat of the Pacific predator edible?

Shark meat is considered delicious, and in some countries, for example in Japan, and in the regions of East Asia it is generally a delicacy. However, industrial sharks of this species are not engaged in sharks. Rather, it happens by chance, while catching salmon. However, the Pacific shark is of interest for sport fishing, especially as its population is quite large. However, environmentalists are concerned that in the future it would not expect the fate of the Atlantic shark, which is endangered.

In Alaska, industrial fishing was banned as far back as 1997, and sport fishing is quite strict. It is allowed to catch to each fisher only two individuals per year.

These amazing creatures are these sharks. On the one hand, these are formidable predators, dangerous for people, and on the other hand, they are on the verge of extinction at the hands of all the same people. And it is not clear who needs to be more careful. Although any predator in the wild is, of course, dangerous for humans, because you never know what to expect from it.