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Enchanted Learning All About Sharks!

Geologic Time Chart

ALL ABOUT SHARKS!

BULL SHARK Carcharhinus leucas Bull Shark Printout Simple Bull Shark Printout to Color

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The bull shark has a short snout that is wider than it is long (hence its name). Its belly is off-white, its top surface is gray, and the eyes are small. The first dorsal fin is much longer and more pointed than the second dorsal fin. A pup's fins have black tips, but these marking fade in the adults. The females are larger than the males. The bull shark is also know as the cub, Ganges, Nicaragua, river, Swan River Whaler, Zambezi, shovelnose, slipway grey, square-nose, and Van Rooyen's shark.

TEETH
Bull shark teeth are triangular, serrated (saw-edged), and very sharp.

The teeth are located in rows which rotate into use as needed. The first two rows are used in obtaining prey, the other rows rotate into place as they are needed. As teeth are lost, broken, or worn down, they are replaced by new teeth that rotate into place.

SIZE
On average, adult males are about 7 feet (2.1 m) long weighing 200 pounds (90 kg). Adult females are about 11.5 feet (3.5 m) long weighing 500 pounds (230 kg).

DIET AND FEEDING HABITS
The bull shark eats fish (including other sharks and rays), turtles, birds, mollusks, crustaceans, and dolphins. It will eat almost anything.

BULL SHARK ATTACKS
The bull shark is one of the most frequent attacker of people, as it swims in very shallow waters where people swim and is an aggressive shark.

HABITAT
The bull shark is found close to shore and can live for a while in fresh water, frequenting estuaries, rivers and lakes. It has been found up to 1,750 miles (2800 km) up the Mississippi River in the USA and 2,500 miles (4000 km) up the Amazon River in Peru. It has been found in Lake Nicaragua (Central America) and the Zambezi River (Africa).

DISTRIBUTION
The bull shark is found in all tropical and subtropical oceans and seas along the coastlines and also in a few fresh water rivers and lakes.

REPRODUCTION
Bull sharks are viviparous (like mammals, giving birth to live animals that were nourished by through a placenta). Litters of 1 to 13 pups are common after a gestation period of about one year. Pups are about 28 inches (70 cm) long at birth. Very young bull sharks are frequently found in protected bays near the mouths of rivers, in briny water

MIGRATION
The South American bull shark migrates about 2,300 miles (3700 km) seasonally, travelling from the upper Amazon river to the sea.

POPULATION COUNT
The bull shark is a very common shark.

BULL SHARK CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom Animalia (animals) Phylum Chordata SubPhylum Vertebrata (vertebrates) Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Subclass Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) Order Carcharhiniformes Family Carcharhinidae Genus Carcharhinus Species leucas

BULL SHARK ACTIVITY
A print-out about the bull shark .

A K-3 bull shark print-out to color.

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