External Description
Size:
The maximum reported length of a bull shark is 11.5 feet, this shark also weighed over 500 pounds. The size at birth of a bull shark is around 29 inches, a little over 2 feet. Females tend to grow larger than males, averaging 7.8 feet as adults and weighing around 250 pounds. This is due to the fact that females also typically have a longer lifespan that males, living till about 16 while males live to about 12 years. Males average to grow to 7.3 feet, and weigh in at about 210 pounds.
Symmetry:
The symmetry of a bull shark is called "bilateral symmetry". Bilateral symmetry means that they have bot ha ventral and dorsal sides, as well as anterior and posterior sides. Animals with bilateral symmetry are also divided into one plane, with two mirror image halves.
Color:
Bull sharks are pale to dark gray above, fading to white on their underside. In younger individuals the fins have black tips which fade to a dusky color as they grow. Several sharks have also been found with pale stripes on the sides of their bodies.
Skin:
The bull shark's skin is made up of a tiny, hard, tooth like structures called placoid scales. These structures are shaped like curved, grooved teeth and make the skin a very tough armor with a texture like sandpaper. As a shark grows, the placoid scales stay the same size. Thus, as the shark grows, it just grows more placoid scales. These scales help the shark to swim more quickly because of their streamlined shape. The shark's skin is also so rough that contact with it could easily injure prey. All of the placoid scales point backwards towards the tail, so if you moved your hand from head to tail it would be smooth (but rough the other way).
Visual:
Bull sharks are very robust-bodied and have a blunt, rounded snout. They lack an interdorsal ridge. The first dorsal fin is large and broadly triangular with a pointed apex. The second dorsal fin is significantly smaller. The pectoral fins are also large and angular. Bull sharks have relatively small eyes as compared to other sharks, which suggests that vision may not be as important a hunting tool for this species. The Bull Shark can be recognized by its unique body shape, which is much wider in comparison to its length than other sharks, and its snout, which is wider than it is long.The Bull Shark can also be recognized by its unique body shape, which is much wider in comparison to its length than other sharks, and its snout, which is wider than it is long.
Nostril:
Smell is known to be the most important shark sense. A shark's snout has two nares (nasal cavity). Each nare has two openings, one for water to enter and one for water to exit. The shark sucks or pulls the water into the nares to sniff out any evidence of prey. . The nasal cavities are big spaces, which gives the shark more time to register the smells.
Ear:
A Bull shark does not have an external ear flap. However, they do have ears on the inside of their head on both sides of the brain.
Each ear leads to a small pore on the outside of a shark's head.
The maximum reported length of a bull shark is 11.5 feet, this shark also weighed over 500 pounds. The size at birth of a bull shark is around 29 inches, a little over 2 feet. Females tend to grow larger than males, averaging 7.8 feet as adults and weighing around 250 pounds. This is due to the fact that females also typically have a longer lifespan that males, living till about 16 while males live to about 12 years. Males average to grow to 7.3 feet, and weigh in at about 210 pounds.
Symmetry:
The symmetry of a bull shark is called "bilateral symmetry". Bilateral symmetry means that they have bot ha ventral and dorsal sides, as well as anterior and posterior sides. Animals with bilateral symmetry are also divided into one plane, with two mirror image halves.
Color:
Bull sharks are pale to dark gray above, fading to white on their underside. In younger individuals the fins have black tips which fade to a dusky color as they grow. Several sharks have also been found with pale stripes on the sides of their bodies.
Skin:
The bull shark's skin is made up of a tiny, hard, tooth like structures called placoid scales. These structures are shaped like curved, grooved teeth and make the skin a very tough armor with a texture like sandpaper. As a shark grows, the placoid scales stay the same size. Thus, as the shark grows, it just grows more placoid scales. These scales help the shark to swim more quickly because of their streamlined shape. The shark's skin is also so rough that contact with it could easily injure prey. All of the placoid scales point backwards towards the tail, so if you moved your hand from head to tail it would be smooth (but rough the other way).
Visual:
Bull sharks are very robust-bodied and have a blunt, rounded snout. They lack an interdorsal ridge. The first dorsal fin is large and broadly triangular with a pointed apex. The second dorsal fin is significantly smaller. The pectoral fins are also large and angular. Bull sharks have relatively small eyes as compared to other sharks, which suggests that vision may not be as important a hunting tool for this species. The Bull Shark can be recognized by its unique body shape, which is much wider in comparison to its length than other sharks, and its snout, which is wider than it is long.The Bull Shark can also be recognized by its unique body shape, which is much wider in comparison to its length than other sharks, and its snout, which is wider than it is long.
Nostril:
Smell is known to be the most important shark sense. A shark's snout has two nares (nasal cavity). Each nare has two openings, one for water to enter and one for water to exit. The shark sucks or pulls the water into the nares to sniff out any evidence of prey. . The nasal cavities are big spaces, which gives the shark more time to register the smells.
Ear:
A Bull shark does not have an external ear flap. However, they do have ears on the inside of their head on both sides of the brain.
Each ear leads to a small pore on the outside of a shark's head.