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| Sharks Temporal range: Ordovician to Recent | |
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| Great white shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Infraclass: | Euselachii |
| Superorder: | Selachimorpha |
| Orders | |
Carcharhiniformes | |
Sharks are a superorder of fish. This superorder is also known by its scientific name Selachimorpha.
Like other Chondrichthyes, sharks have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.
There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 450 million years, since the late Ordovician. That is 200 million years before the dinosaurs.
Most sharks are predators: they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. It is widely believed that sharks are "silent killers". However, a recent study shows that sharks emit a low growl from their throats which resonates through their scales.
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