Sharks — some of the largest and strong predatory fishes in the world. Repeatedly they were heroes of documentary and feature films, books and news. Unfortunately, sometimes people become subjects to their hunting.
The most dangerous sharks
The total number of species of the sharks living in waters of the World Ocean makes more than 400. Only 30 of them ever attacked people, and about 10 types are considered as especially dangerous. Most often people become the victims of a white shark, tiger shark and shark bull who are distinguished by the impressive sizes and huge force of jaws.
Every year register about 100 cases of attacks of sharks on the person, less than 20 of them are deadly.
White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are leaders in the number of the unprovoked attacks on people, and they are responsible for 47% of attacks worldwide. According to statistical data of International Shark Attack File (ISAF) from 1580 for 2010 these predators committed 403 assaults, 65 of which were deadly.
Length of a body of white sharks averages from 3 to 4.5 m, weight — to 2 t. At silver-gray color of a surface back and side parts has white lower. Marine mammals, often large, such as seals and sea pigs enter a diet of these giants. Generally they live in oceanic open and coastal waters.
Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) rank second by the number of attacks on people. According to ISAF for last 430 years 157 attacks, 27 of them from the death are recorded. Representatives of this predatory look have average length about 5 m, weight is 400-700 kg. Tiger sharks received the name because of the dark stains and strips passing on each side which grow dull over time. They eat fish, sea turtles, cetacea, squids, Crustacea, sea birds. They meet also in open ocean waters, and near the coast at a depth. Carcharhinus leucas closes the three of the most dangerous sharks. On its account 59 of unprovoked attacks and 25 death for 4 centuries as reports ISAF.Osobi of this look not such huge as previous, however their sizes are also impressive. Body length — up to 3.5 m, weight — about 220 kg. Back and sides gray, lower part white. Their production generally is fish, Crustacea, sea turtles and squids. The shark bull prefers shallow water up to 30 m in depth and often meets in muddy water. Some subspecies of a shark bull live in fresh reservoirs.
The freshwater South American lake Nicaragua is the house for a great number of individuals of a look a shark bull.
The ordinary sandy shark, chernopery shark, uzkozuby shark, korotkopery gray shark supplement the list. Some scientists consider that wrong identification when predators take people for their usual forage, for example seals is the reason of attack. Others believe that sharks bite even unfamiliar objects to define, they are edible or not.
Where toothy predators live
Though all these most dangerous types are found in the majority of the seas and oceans, there are several places where there are regularly tragic cases. Most often register attacks of sharks when the big number of dangerous predators and high concentration of people near places of their dwelling is observed. Such is the American State of Florida where all the year round there come persons interested to work surfing and diving. There the biggest frequency of attacks of sharks, however the majority of injuries insignificant is fixed. Also potentially dangerous are: Hawaii where about 40 species of sharks, and among them tiger are found; California where 75% of the attacks are made by a white shark; South Carolina, however there a shark bull and tiger live not so close to the coast, as in Florida; Northern Carolina; Texas; Pacific waters of Mexico. In South America the coast of Brazil is unsafe. It is possible to fall a victim of sharks on the Bahamas, in South Africa, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand. The place with the biggest percent of fatal cases is Australia.