Sharks

Extraordinary adaptations

In your mouth, you have 16 teeth in one neat row. The White Shark has 300 teeth in five rows. Not so great for seals or dugongs, but very helpful to the shark, which can easily replace teeth lost while hunting and eating.

And do you know about sharks’ amazing skin? It’s not skin at all – they are covered in tiny denticles, which are closer to teeth than anything else! Sharks wear this suit of armour to protect themselves, and the hydrodynamic design makes them super fast.

You’ll see:

• The biggest fish – a life size model of a Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus), which can grow to up to 16m
• The fastest shark – a rearticulated skeleton of the Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) which can reach speeds of up to 70km/hour and jump as high as 9m out of the water
• A wet specimen of the third-smallest shark – the Moller’s Lanternshark (Etmopterus molleri), reaching just 46cm long

Evolution

Four hundred and fifty million years ago, animals with a skeleton made from bone (bony vertebrates), and animals with a skeleton made from cartilage (cartilaginous vertebrates), separated for the first time. The bony vertebrates went on to become 90% of the planet’s animals – fishes, birds, mammals and humans. The cartilaginous vertebrates became sharks, chimeras and stingrays. Did you know sharks have survived five global mass extinctions since then?

You’ll see:

• A life size model of the 270-million-year-old Helicoprion, known as the buzzsaw shark
• Touchable fossils from the AM Palaeontology Collection

^{Image credit: Illustration of Akmonistion, an extinct shark that lived in the Early Carboniferous period. © Steve Wright.}

Interactive experiences

The best way to learn about sharks is by dipping your toe into the water!

Interactive exhibits include:

• See with 360-degree Hammerhead vision: Having eyes at each end of the ‘hammer’ means they have 360° vision – they can see above and below them.
• Enter the Shark Tank: Dive into the diverse world of sharks in this digital, interactive, underwater vortex.
• What’s inside a Tiger Shark’s stomach? Lift the lid to find out. They do get very hungry...
• What sort of shark are you? Take our shark personality test to find out what kind of shark you would be.
• Adapt to survive: Use the touch screen to make the necessary evolutionary adaptations to survive in four different environments.

First Nations and Pasifika cultural representation

There are over 400 species of shark in the world, and about half of them occur in the waters around Australia, more than anywhere else. So we are uniquely placed to study sharks and create a better understanding of their importance.

Most First Nations and Pasifika Peoples have beliefs and cultural practices around sharks. In this exhibition we bring you just some of the people, places and stories about sharks from the great wash of the Pacific Ocean.

You’ll see:

• Cultural objects that teach us about the historical connections between people and sharks including weapons, armour, tools, ceremonial costume, drums and carvings.
• Newly acquired surfboards from Hawaii, made in the enduring style of Hawaiian Ancestors.
• An interactive seasonal calendar linking the plants and animals around you to what the sharks are doing in the water.

^{Image credit: Feeding the 'aumākua (ancestral spirits). © Original Artwork by Herb Kawainui Kāne LLC.}