80 Fin-tastic Shark Trivia Questions and Answers

Sharks seem to be mysterious and maybe even a bit scary. Here is a fun way to learn more about them and find out what makes them great creatures and not so scary after all. Shark Trivia is a fun and interesting way to see how much you and your family and friends might know about sharks.

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Trivia games are fun and make learning new facts fun as well. It will be a great addition to your next family or friends game night or just something to use to pass the time the next time you are waiting in the car for a kid to get out of practice or in the school pick-up line. It can also be a great way to spend time with your friends as you wait to get in the restaurant or whatever you are doing on a girls’ night out.

Shark Trivia will be a great one for that but we have several ones that you should also check out like Spring Break Trivia, Winter Sports Trivia, or even 300+ Best Trivia Questions for Kids & Adults.

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Why I Love Trivia Games

I love trivia because it is a fun way to find out what you might know about a topic. It also is a fun way to learn more about a topic you might want to know more about. It is a great way to teach facts to your kids and to have them listen to what you say about a subject. I know in my family we are competitive and trivia helps us compete in a friendly way so we can learn more about being right and not knowing the answer but also learning that is ok if we do not know everything.

How To Play Trivia

Look up the Trivia game you want to play.
If you are playing in a big group with young children it would be a good idea to divide into teams. Make sure that both teams are evenly divided not all young children on one team or all adults on one team. Otherwise, with a smaller group, you can play as individuals.
When playing as teams, you can route which team asks the questions or pick a moderator that will ask all the questions. As individual players, you can have a moderator as well or just pass the questions around for all to take turns asking them.
Read the questions and assign points to those who get the right answers. Those with the most points, after you read all the questions, win.

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Benefits Of Trivia Games

There are many benefits to playing trivia games.

We learn in a fun way that makes it feel like we are not learning.
If you want to play a game as a family this is good for all ages young and old.
Families and friends can learn to work together as a team.
Learning it is ok to not know everything.

Tips And Tricks

You might want to have a few tips and tricks for playing any of our Trivia games. Here are a few.

Pick a fun way to buzz in like a bell or whistle.
Use these on your next game night and make the losing team bring a dessert to the next game night.
Use trivia questions on your next road trip to fill the time and make it more fun.
Pair an older teenager with the younger kids as teammates.

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Shark Trivia Questions

Our free list of questions is below. Bookmark this page to come back and play with your friends and family. We also have a cute printable version in our store linked above that you can purchase and print.

Grab your printable version of these Trivia questions and answers here!

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After eating a sea lion or a seal, how long can a white shark live without needing another big meal? One month
How do you calculate the age of a shark? Calculating the age of a shark is difficult and imprecise. Researchers have used different methods to arrive at figures that were mere estimates at best. These methods include establishing size: age ratio, counting the rings on the otolith, counting vertebrae rings, etc.
How do you calculate the age of a shark? Most will live for between 20 and 30 years with a few exceptions. The whale shark is believed to live up to 100 years and the Greenland shark about 400 years.
What’s the largest shark species? The whale shark is the largest shark, and also the largest fish. Adult whale sharks can grow to over 20 meters (66 feet). Only whales are larger the whale shark.
What’s the name for sharks that live in the deepest parts of the ocean? Benthic sharks. The Angleshark, Wobbegong, and Zebra Horn Shark belong to this group.
How long can a Greenland shark live? Up to 400 years
How fast can a shark grow back their teeth? Pretty much overnight

Love Trivia Questions? Grab this ultimate trivia bundle!

Approximately how long have sharks existed on Earth? 350 million years
Approximately how many species of sharks have been identified by scientists? Around 370
Are sharks solitary or social animals? Sharks are generally social, and even the solitary ones will come together to feed or breed. The scalloped hammerhead, for instance, commonly forms groups of up to 100 individuals.

Why do baby sharks swim away from their mothers? After birth, they swim away to avoid being eaten by them
Are there animals that prey on sharks? Orca (killer whales) can attack and kill great white sharks. Also, sperm whales may occasionally kill sharks. Such attacks are rare though; for now, sharks maintain their spot at the top of the food chain.
Are there any sharks that glow in the dark? Yes. This property is called bioluminescence and is primarily used to lure prey. Species like the lantern sharks and the cookie-cutter shark exhibit it. The cookie-cutter shark is the brightest. The photophores are on its entire stomach region.
Can sharks hear? Yes. You won’t see an ear on the outside, but they have a small opening on either side of their heads that leads to an inner ear. Their hearing is tuned to a lower frequency than humans, and it’s so acute that they can hear fish struggling for miles around them.
Do sharks cannibalize other sharks? The great white, tiger shark, and mako shark will sometimes eat smaller shark species in addition to their normal diet of tuna, seals, sea lions, and dolphins. Rays are closely related to sharks, yet they are the favorite meal of hammerhead sharks.
For how long can a female shark be pregnant? Up to 2 years
Do sharks have bony skeletons? Sharks do not have bony skeletons. They belong to a group of fish known as elasmobranch. Such fish have lighter, flexible cartilage in their skeleton rather than bone. Shark muscles are attached directly to the inside of their tough skin.
Does a shark’s skin improve its swimming speed? Just like other fish, shark skin is covered with scales but the scales are made from hard, bony tissue called dentine. The scales look like tiny teeth, and each one creates a small vortex on its trailing edge as the shark swims through water greatly reducing drag.
For how long can tiger sharks live up to? 50 years
How many rows of teeth do Frilled sharks have? 25 rows of teeth
How do sharks communicate with each other? Using physical action

Where do Ghost sharks have sex organs on their bodies? On their heads
True or False: Greenland sharks are the only sharks that can stand the Arctic cold. True
How do sharks attack prey? The majority of sharks are filter feeders or feed on small fish and crustaceans on the seabed. The ambush predators like the aggressive tiger, bull, and great white sharks tend to swim close to the water’s surface. They hunt mostly at dawn or dusk, in poor light since their bright colored bellies will make them harder to spot by fish swimming underneath them.
How do sharks stay afloat? Unlike other fish, that have gas-filled swim bladders, sharks have huge oil-filled livers instead. This oil is known as shark liver oil or squalene and gives the shark some buoyancy. Additional buoyancy is supplied by the dynamic lift from the shark’s fins as it swims.
How many human fatalities are caused by sharks each year? Over the last decade, less than five people are killed by sharks annually.
How many of the oceans can sharks be found in? All of Them (The oceans: the Arctic, the Indian, the Pacific, and the Atlantic.)
How many sharks do human beings like a year? Approximately 100 million sharks every year for things like shark fin soup in parts of Asia, medicine, pet supplements, cosmetics, etc. In Victoria, Australia, shark flesh is the most popular fish used in fish and chip shops.
How many species of shark are there? The actual figure is still increasing, but there are over 440 species of sharks today. New species of sharks, skates, or rays are still being identified almost every other week. Sharks belong to the superorder Selachimorpha.
How many species of sharks are known? More than 440 (If you learned about one a day for a year, you’d need more time)
In which direction can a shark swim? Only forward

How powerful are shark jaws? An adult bull shark can bite with a force of up to 6,000 N (1,350 psi). A grown great white can exert over 18,000 N (4,000 psi) of force with a single bite. That’s about twice the force of the largest alligators, which currently hold the record for the strongest bite of land animals.
In which part of the day does the tiger shark normally go hunting? At night
Is a shark a mammal? Sharks are not mammals but a species of fish
Is it true that sharks can smell blood from miles away? Over 60 percent of their brain is dedicated to their olfactory lobes. Their brain can interpret stimuli in the water letting the shark know the distance and nature of potential prey. Open-water species like the great white can sense blood at concentrations of one part per million.
Other than sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing, what can sharks also sense? Electricity (There are more than just ocean currents)
What happens when Male blue sharks mate? They get violent
What is the most poisonous shark? The flesh of the Greenland shark is toxic when fresh due to its very high concentration of urea and trimethylamine oxide (TMAO).
Sharks are the sister group or close relatives to which ocean animal? Rays
How many teeth can Sharks go through in a lifetime? up to 50,000
Sharks do not live in which ocean? Sharks can be found in all oceans

How long do Sharks carry their pups? It varies from five months to three years but most are about 12 months
What is part of a shark’s bone? Only their teeth are bone
Skeletons of sharks are made of which component? Cartilage
What do some shark pups do? Eat each other in the womb
Which sharks glow in the dark? Swell Sharks
The popular song “Baby Shark” originated from which country in 2016? South Korea
Which shark is the slowest shark? The Greenland shark is the slowest shark for its size. They move at 0.34m/s (less than 1mph) and will exhibit short bursts of speed reaching 0.7m/s (1.6mph) when they are chasing prey.
The uniquely shaped head of the hammerhead shark is specially designed for which purpose? To find foods
What is a shark’s favorite sound? a faint buzz called a “yummy hum”
What shark can carry 300 pups? Whale sharks

True or False: Unborn sharks can protect themselves from predators. True
What are some of the most endangered shark species? The Pondicherry shark, basking shark, scalloped hammerhead, large sawfish, and the common sawfish are just a few of the most endangered sharks today.
What are some strange items found inside shark stomachs? A rubber tire, parts of a crocodile, shoes, and a roll of chicken wire.
What cleaning compound can be found in shark teeth? Fluoride (Dentists would approve)
What is a pup? A baby shark
What is the assumed to be the smallest shark? (Hint: What do you use to see in the dark?) Dwarf Lantern Shark
What is the biggest shark? Whale sharks (Don’t worry, they don’t attack humans)
What is the fastest shark? The Mako Shark (They can swim more than 50 miles per hour)
What is the favorite food of the hammerhead shark? Stingray
What is the maximum range of vision that the hammerhead shark can have? 360 degrees

What is the name of the grey great white shark that leads the Fish-Friendly Sharks support group in the 2003 animated movie “Finding Nemo”? Bruce
What is the oldest shark fossil to be found? 409 million years ago (Also known as the Devonian Period)
What is the nickname for the goblin shark, which has been existing on Earth for approximately 125 million years?
Living fossil
What is the scariest-looking shark? The Goblin Shark (in my opinion It sounds scary. Terrifying!)
How old is the first evidence of sharks? 420 million years ago
Where did people worship the sharks and have 9 shark gods in their culture? Hawaii
Where do benthic sharks spend most of their time? On the floor of the ocean
Which island country in the Pacific Ocean has a shark on its 3-dollar banknote? Cook Island
Which kind of shark is most likely to be found in a large group? (Hint: Think tools) Hammerhead Shark
Which types of shark can survive in freshwater? Bull Sharks and River Sharks

True or False: The spotted pattern of whale sharks helps them attract other sharks. False
Which shark species are oviparous, meaning that they lay eggs and hatch outside the mother’s body? Bamboo sharks
Which part of the body helps sharks to float on water? Liver
Which part of the body helps the bull shark survive in freshwater? Kidneys
Which shark has been found in the deepest water? The Portuguese Shark (Can be found at depths up to 8,920 feet!)
Which sharks don’t need salt water to survive? (Hint: There are two) Bull Shark & River Shark
Which term refers to a group of sharks? A Shoal
How many teeth will a shark grow in its lifetime? Sharks have “disposable” teeth. Their teeth are attached to the skin rather than the jaw and are constantly being replaced. New teeth come from the back of the mouth to replace old ones like a moving factory production line or airport conveyor belt.
Why do we call it a lemon shark? It has a yellow skin

Wow! We learned so much about sharks putting together this list. Did you? We’d love to hear about what you learned in the comments.

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