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(#1) Bull shark
- Carcharhinus leucas
Size: Females grow slightly larger than males with an average length of 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) and 290 lbs. (130 kg) in weight.
Location: Warm coastal waters across the globe to include brackish and fresh water.
Distinguishing Features: They don't stay in the ocean and will swim into freshwater. They can get fairly large and are very aggressive.
Why You Should Be Scared: There you are swimming in your local river when a large shark decides to see what your leg tastes like! That's right, Bull Sharks often swim through brackish waters into rivers - and keep going. They have been found as far north in the Mississippi river as Alton, Illinois (700 miles from saltwater). They are also incredibly aggressive and will attack for no known reason. They make up the majority of near-shore shark attacks.
In beaches, they have attacked in as little as 24 inches of water.
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(#2) Great white shark
- Carcharodon carcharias
Size: Females can grow up to 20 feet (6.1 meters) and weigh up to 4,200 lbs. (1,905 kg). Males tend to be smaller growing between 11 to 13 feet (3.4 to 4 meters). Some individuals have been noted to grow even larger with anecdotal sightings reaching upwards of 30+ feet in length.
Location: All the world's oceans, but generally warmer waters keeping free of the northern and southern regions.
Distinguishing Features: The largest jaws of any carnivorous shark with huge, serrated teeth. Great White Sharks can get very large and have a distinctive grey color with a white underbelly.
Why You Should Be Scared: Great White Sharks are widely feared due to their frightening appearance and size. The book and film Jaws hasn't helped in alluding people's fears, though they don't often attack people. When they do, their bites are usually so severe, they result in appendage loss and death.
The Great White Shark is an apex predator and while some people do swim alongside them, most know to jump into a cage before getting too close to these gigantic carnivores.
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(#3) Tiger shark
- Galeocerdo cuvier
Size: Tiger Sharks are quite large, capable of reaching lengths of up to 16.5 feet (5 meters)
Location: Tropical waters across the planet
Distinguishing Features: Most members of the species have dark stripes down its body, which resemble tiger stripes. These tend to fade as the shark matures.
Why You Should Be Scared: Tiger Sharks are the second-deadliest sharks when it comes to human attacks. Their size and aggressive nature make their bites damaging to anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths. They are known as the "garbage eaters" of the ocean due to their habit of biting and swallowing whatever they come across.
This usually means you can find things like license plates and toilet seats in their stomachs. They will literally eat anything and when they school, they have been known to attack pods of Killer Whales.
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(#4) Shortfin mako shark
- Isurus oxyrinchus
Size: 10 feet (3.2 meters) with a weight up to around 300 lbs. (135 kg) at their maximum. Some have been found to reach a length closer to 15 feet, (4.5 meters) weighing in at over 2200 lbs. (1,000 kg).
Location: Warmer, temperate waters across the whole planet.
Distinguishing Features: Their lower jaw has rows of teeth that curve back into the mouth making it easier for the shark to hold onto prey that somehow survives getting caught in there.
Why You Should Be Scared: The Shortfin Mako shark is the fastest-swimming shark, making it capable of striking at their prey from far away at a very high rate of speed. They can reach a speed of 42 mph (68 km/h), making their strikes come out of nowhere.
Given their size and mass, they don't even have to bite a victim to cause severe damage, but they often do bite and you absolutely don't want that.
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(#5) Oceanic whitetip shark
- Carcharhinus longimanus
Size: At their largest, they can weigh in at 190 lbs (86.4 kb) and be close to 10 feet (3 meters) in length.
Location: Tropical and warm temperate seas across the planet.
Distinguishing Features: Their most distinctive feature has to be the white tip atop their dorsal fin.
Why You Should Be Scared: Oceanic Whitetip Sharks make up the dominant force during a feeding frenzy and their interest in disturbed waters means they are usually the first ones on the scene following a shipwreck or airplane crash. You don't want to find yourself in the water when these fish are nearby. They may be relatively slow-moving, but they are incredibly aggressive when they desire to feed.
Sadly, humans are more of a threat to them than they are to us, as they make up the principal ingredient of shark fin soup.
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(#6) Hammerhead shark
- Sphyrna
Size: 3 to 19.7 feet (0.9 to 6 meters) weighing in at upwards of 1,278 lbs (580 kg).
Location: Worldwide coastal waters along coastlines and continental shelves.
Distinguishing Features: There is literally nothing distinctive about hammerhead sharks... unless you count the rather obvious hammer-shaped head called a cephalofoil, which gives them their name.
Why You Should Be Scared: Hammerhead Sharks swim in large schools of thousands of individuals. They can become incredibly aggressive when feeding, but don't often attack humans. Their size, strength, and bite can make an attack particularly damaging, but they don't often take more than a single nibble from a human. Unfortunately, a single nibble can be devastating.
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(#7) Sand Tiger Shark
Size: Maximum length of around 10.5 feet (3.2 meters).
Location: Subtropical and temperate waters worldwide.
Distinguishing Features: Sand Tiger Sharks are generally grey in color with reddish-brown spots on their backs. They have a sharp, pointy head and a bulky body.
Why You Should Be Scared: While the Sand Tiger Shark has not caused any known human fatalities, it is widely feared by humans. This is most likely due to the nature of its teeth, which jut out from the bottom of their mouths outward.
Their appearance is frightening to behold and while they have been known to attack humans on rare occasions, it has a generally docile disposition and is often placed in aquariums due to its ability to withstand captivity.
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(#8) Bronze whaler
- Carcharhinus brachyurus
Size: At their largest, they can grow to 11 feet (3.3 meters) in length.
Location: Coastal waters throughout much of the planet.
Distinguishing Features: They look like similar sharks, but it can often be distinguished by its distinctive bronze and brown coloring. Its upper teeth are hook-shaped and not directly pointed like most sharks.
Why You Should Be Scared: Bronze Whaler Sharks don't often attack humans, but when they do, they are almost always completely unprovoked. When they do attack humans, they don't often result in fatalities, but rather, serious injury, which you might expect from a shark of this size.
Their prevalence for warmer coastal waters means you have probably swum with them before... you just didn't know it.
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(#9) Blacktip shark
- Carcharhinus limbatus
Size: 4.9 feet (1.5) meters in length
Location: Mostly coastal waters across the planet
Distinguishing Features: Their dorsal, pectoral, caudal fins and tails have a black coloring along the edges, which give them their names.
Why You Should Be Scared: Typically, a Blacktip Shark will keep away from humans, but if they happen to be anywhere near food with humans nearby, they can become incredibly aggressive. They are responsible for a large number of attacks on humans, but due to their relatively small size, they do not often result in human fatalities... just seriously painful and mutilating wounds.
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(#10) Blue shark
- Prionace glauca
Size: Blue Sharks generally reach a length of 6 to 9.3 feet (1.8 to 2.8 meters), but have been known to reach a length of 12 feet (3.8 meters)
Location: The entire planet's oceans except for the northernmost and southernmost waters.
Distinguishing Features: Blue Sharks are easily distinguished by their pointed snout and large black eyes. Their top coloring is a dark blue, which is where it derives its name.
Why You Should Be Scared: Blue Sharks rarely bite humans, but when they do, they are fatal about 25% of the time. Blue Sharks tend to school in large groups, which you wouldn't want to find yourself in.
They would most likely leave a swimming human alone, but could decide to take a bit just to see what you taste like.
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About This Tool
Sharks existed on the earth long before the dinosaurs. So far, this species has a history of more than 500 million years. They have hardly changed in the past 100 million years. Sharks are at the top of the food chain, and there are almost no natural enemies that can threaten their survival. There are about 250 to 300 species of sharks around the world, some of them are relatively docile, and some are fierce and aggressive.
The random tool lists 10 of the scariest types of sharks on the planet, they are powerful predators with super-fast speed and extremely sharp fangs, few preys can escape from their pursuit.
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