Shark Family - One Big, Happy, Carnivorous Family

SHARK WEEK MINI-GRAPHIC #5 SHARK FAMILY ONE BIG, HAPPY, CARNIVOROUS FAMILY There are about 400 species of sharks, but scientists have categorized them all into 8 convenient groups based on some of their defining features. Take a look below at how diverse the shark family is! Body flattened, ray-like mouth terminal SQUATINIFORMES Angel sharks No anal fin Snout elongated, saw-like PRISTIOPHORIFORMES Sawsharks Body not ray-like, mouth ventral Snout short, SQUALIFORMES not saw-like About 97 species including dogfish sharks, the greenland shark, cookiecutter shark and lanternsharks 6 or 7 gill slits, one dorsal fin HEXANCHIFORMES Frilled and cow sharks Nictating eyelids spiral intestinal valve CARCHARHINIFORMES The ground sharks, 270 species including blue, tiger, bull, lemon, whitetip and hammerhead sharks Mouth behind front of eyes No nictating eyelids ring intestinal valve LAMNIFORMES Anal fin present Mackerel sharks including great white, mako, thresher basking, sandtiger, goblin and megamouth sharks No fin spines Mouth well in ORECTOLOBIFORMES front of eyes 5 gill slits, 2 dorsal fins Carpet sharks, generally bottomdwellers (except the whale shark) species include: nurse, zebra, bamboo sharks and wobbegongs Dorsal fin HETERODONTIFORMES spines Bullheaded sharks and horn sharks SOURCE: © 2OOLOGYDEGREEONLINE.COM C 000 wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_sharks Created under a Creative Commons License BY NC ND