Planet of the apex: test your shark knowledge with our fin-tastic quiz
What is the collective noun for sharks?
A shiver of sharks
A conspiracy of sharks
A suit of sharks
An armoury of sharks
Which of these sharks is no fairytale?
Troll
Elf
Goblin
Loch Ness
Swell sharks can swallow water to make themselves appear bigger, and bark like a dog when lifted out of the water. They also give off an ethereal green glow: why?
Toxic chemical spills have turned them green
They eat a lot of bioluminescent plankton
So they can identify each other in the dark
They have faint genetic links to an alien species
A celebrity great white shark known as Katherine, with 60,000 Twitter followers, works the waters off the North American coast. When she’s not breaking the internet (OK, the OCEARCH shark tracker site) with her location pings, she’s providing crucial learning about the mating habits of sexually mature great whites. How long is the gestation period for great white pups?
18 months
3 months
4 years
Nothing - they lay eggs
Which of these characters from JR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has a shark namesake?
Sauron
Frodo
Gandalf
Gollum
Which of the following is untrue about the song Baby Shark (YouTube views as of publication: 5.9bn)?
It is a tried-and-tested song for setting the pace of CPR
People have reported that listening to the song backwards reveals satanic messages
It was sung at a protest in Lebanon to soothe a toddler in his mum’s car
No one knows who created (and can be blamed for) the original baby shark
The mako shark is the ocean's fastest, able to swim as fast as 35mph. What unusual attribute contributes to its speed?
It uses its fins in a propeller motion
It blows water backwards from its mouth
It builds speed by leaping out of the water
It is partially warm-blooded
Frilled sharks are one of the oldest species of shark in the world – mysterious ocean bottom-dwellers that resemble a cross between an eel and a shark. When do experts estimate this species appeared?
65 million years ago – around the time a mass extinction wiped out the dinosaurs
25 million years ago – when apes diverged from old world monkeys
95 million years ago – in the last portion of 'the age of dinosaurs'
200 million years ago – when the supercontinent Pangea began to break up
Which shark takes cylindrical chunks of flesh out of its prey – often much larger sharks and whales?
Cookie-cutter shark
Gulper shark
Sponge-sucker shark
Lemon shark
What did Donald Trump once tweet about sharks?
Every time I speak of sharks I do so with great love and affection. They cannot help the fact that they were born fucked up!
Obama's wind turbines kill millions of sharks in sharknados every year. The Paris climate agreement hurts Americans, sharks, and costs a fortune
Sharks are last on my list – other than perhaps the losers and haters of the World!
Sharks only bite do-nothing Democrats! Swim faster LOSERS!
What method of repelling sharks is being trialled in Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean?
Magnets disguised as kelp
'Scaresharks'– giant inflatable sharks
Nets baited with chum
Playing jazz underwater
The tasselled wobbegong is often found on coral reefs or near the shore in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. What trick does it use to catch its food?
Vigorously shakes its tassels to cause underwater waves to dislodge prey
Filters fish and plankton through its open mouth as it moves
Squirts a cloud of noxious gas to confuse its prey
Camouflages itself as coral and wobbles its tail back and forth in a mesmerising dance to lure fish
Which of the following most accurately resembles how the skin of most sharks would feel under your hand?
Silk
Leather
Sandpaper
Scales
Miss Helen, a female grey horn shark, was abducted from a US aquarium in 2018. How did they smuggle her out?
Pretended she was a toy from the gift shop
Dressed her up as an employee
Wheeled her out in a baby’s pram
Pretended to impound Miss Helen as evidence in a fake cocaine bust
Sharks are often caught as bycatch in the Mediterranean. According to the Italian coast guard and experts, what is shortfin mako or blue shark often fraudulently sold as?
Swordfish
Calamari
Chicken
Tuna
What are the ampullae of Lorenzini?
A species of shark found in the Mediterranean
The top sharks in a group that hunt together
Roman shark gods
The system of electromagnetic receptors on a shark's snout
Fish are friends (sometimes). There are many examples of sharks enjoying a gentler relationship with their surroundings than their reputation as mindless killers would suggest. Which of the following is untrue?
Remora fish hitch rides on some shark species
Dolphins and sharks often work together to corner schools of fish
Sharks allow pilot fish to swim inside their mouths to pick food from their teeth
Bonnethead sharks munch on seagrass
What have scientists never seen a whale shark do?
Give birth
Surface
Change direction
Feed
What great white shark mystery is concerning experts in Cape Town, South Africa?
They found a skeleton of one on Table Mountain
They've all disappeared
They’ve been propelling themselves on to beaches
They're eating the base of the harbour walls
In May, customs officials made the biggest shark fin seizure in Hong Kong history: 26 tonnes, in two shipping containers from Ecuador. How many sharks were the fins taken from?
500
38,500
2,000
17,500
Solutions
1:A, 2:C, 3:C, 4:A - Great whites have a gestation period similar to Asian elephants. Pregnant great whites are known to swim thousands of miles to nursery sites, one of which was discovered off Long Island, New York, in 2016, 5:D - Taxonomist Leonard Compagno named this group of groundsharks in 1973, noting that they bear 'some resemblance in form and habits' to the Tolkien character, 6:B, 7:D - While most sharks are cold-blooded, makos are endotherms (partially warm blooded), which affords them explosive power and speed. Great whites share this quality, 8:C - They are known as living fossils. A warning about Googling them: their weird appearance might haunt your dreams, 9:A, 10:C, 11:A, 12:D, 13:C - Sharks are covered with dermal denticles – tooth-like structures that decrease drag to help the shark swim faster and more quietly, 14:C - CCTV footage showed Miss Helen being grabbed from an open pool and wrapped in a wet blanket before being wheeled away. She was found and returned to San Antonio aquarium days later, where staff said she was recovering well from the shock, 15:A, 16:D - Sharks’ heads and snouts are covered with a network of pores that detect tiny electrical signals. Rubbing a shark on the nose can induce a trance-like state (though we wouldn’t recommend trying this), while punching it is said to help to stop an attack. Sharks’ ampullae network is named after Stefano Lorenzini, the Italian scientist who discovered it in 1678, 17:B - Dolphins and sharks often compete for the same food sources, so while each species tends to mind their own business, they don’t work together. Sharks sometimes fare badly in encounters with dolphins, which may ram them if they feel threatened, 18:A - The mating and birthing cycle of these gentle giants remains shrouded in mystery, 19:B - Not long ago, there were 200 or so sightings a year. Last year there wasn't one. Experts believe longline fishing, pollution or the arrival of orcas may be keeping them away, 20:B
Scores
20 and above.
Congratulations – top sharking skills
19 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
18 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
17 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
16 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
15 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
14 and above.
Excellent shark skills. You are all about the apex
13 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
12 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
11 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
10 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
9 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
8 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
7 and above.
Between a rock and a shark place. Just keep swimming – there’s more to learn
6 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
5 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
4 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
3 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
2 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
0 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado
1 and above.
Your knowledge of sharks is as nonexistent as a sharknado