The Animal World | How Many Kinds Of Sharks Are There And How Many Are Dangerous?
How many kinds of sharks are there and how many are dangerous?
There are 354 species of sharks, ranging in length from 6 inches (15 centimeters) to 49 feet (15 meters), according to the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization. While 35 species are known to have attacked humans at least once, only a dozen do so on a regular basis.
The relatively rare Great White shark (Carcharodan carcharias) is the largest predatory fish in the world. The largest specimen of this species to be accurately measured was 20 feet 4 inches (6.2 meters) long and weighed 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms).
Sources: The Guinness Book of Records 1994, p. 41; The Guinness Book of Records 1996, p. 34; Maniquet, Xavier. The Jaws of Death, pp. 15-16; O'Brien, Tim. Where the Animals Are, p. 102.
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