Sharks: Did You Know?

Abstract:: This collection of fun facts is from Sharks and Rays: Myth and Reality, part of the Museum's Seminars on Science series. These distance-learning courses are designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. A brief explanation page is provided for the six fun facts: Did you know sharks can gestate for up to two years? Did you know sharks and rays don't have bones? Did you know sharks and rays are cosmopolitan in distribution? Did you know an individual shark can produce upwards of 30,000 teeth in its lifetime? Did you know shark skin, or shagreen, feels rough if you stroke it in one direction, but smooth if you stroke it in the other.

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Sharks and Rays: Myth and Reality

Abstract:: This gallery of online resources is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. The Sharks and Rays: Myth and Reality seminar examines six popular myths: Myth 1: Sharks Must Swim Constantly or They Die! Myth 2: Sharks are the Number One Cause of Animal-Related Deaths! Myth 3: All Rays Have Poisonous Stingers!Myth 4: All Sharks Are Like the Great White! Myth 5: Sharks Can Detect a Single Drop of Blood in the Ocean! Myth 6: Sharks Do Not Get Cancer!

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Abstract:: This video gallery is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. Part of the Sharks and Rays: Myth and Reality seminar, Video Gallery: Why Conserve Sharks? features two brief videos, each with a printable PDF transcript:Resistance to Cancer discusses why sharks make an interesting model to look at when investigating resistance to cancer. Immune System looks at the Mote Marine Laboratory's project to study sharks' immune systems.