The smell of the white shark | A supersense of nature

I'm sure you went through a lot of fear watching the movie "Shark" and possibly since then you feel uneasy when you swim in deeper water than usual. Do not forget that there are more than 500 species of sharks that can disturb your dreams . However, in this article of Supercurious we wanted to approach one of them, the Carcharodon carcharias, that is, the white shark, for discover the supersense with which nature has endowed it: The smell of the white shark. Uncover it! It's extraordinary!

The White shark It can be found in all oceans of warm and temperate waters. The oldest fossils date from approximately 16 million years ago and it is believed that it is related to the megalodon . They usually measure between 5 and 7.5 meters, although specimens have been found that far exceed that size.

The smell of the white shark: a natural super-sense

You may have wondered why it gets the name of "White shark" This type of shark. It is because the blackish back that members of this species wear in their first years of life, turns gray as they get older. This particularity joins the whitish belly giving them, in general, a whitish appearance. Also, as they never stop growing, the bigger they are, they are also whiter, which is why they are called "big white".

The smell of the white shark

Among the curiosities of these animals highlight their noses or frontal ends that have large number of nerve endings. They serve to capture the vibrations that produce their possible prey when they cause some disturbance in the water. They also have receptor cells in the nose called "Lorenzini blisters" that allow them to capture electric fields to orient themselves when they migrate. But what makes it really different is the smell of white shark . It is so powerful that it can be considered a "supersense".

The smell of the white shark 1

Nearly 70% of the white shark's brain is dedicated to sniffing out what its next meal may entail. The nostrils serve to smell and not to breathe and are channels to the olfactory bulb. They can detect a single drop of blood in 100 liters of water and smell their prey more than 5 km. away.

To help your nose, move your head laterally by driving the water to your nostrils and moving in the direction of the pit that first smelled the scent of blood. Inhale and exhale intermittently through a pit and another to keep track of it. Surely you have noticed the documentaries in the characteristic movement of the head, not to expand your field of vision, but to help the sense of smell. The smell of white shark , developed over millions of years, has made it an infallible marine predator.

The smell of white shark 2

Although the sight is less important than the super-smell or the sensitivity of its nose, it is also important for this animal, since it is determinant in the type of stalking that it shows, with an approach and attack to its prey from below. Did you know the extraordinary smell of white shark ? Did you know that he could smell blood at such a distance? If you have more information about him, share them with us! If you want to meet other curious animals, we invite you to read:

  • The Purple Snail | 10 Curiosities of this incredible color animal
  • The Panda Ant | 15 Curiosities of a very rare animal
  • Dendrobates tinctorius, the dangerous blue frog
  • The pink Grasshopper | Condemned to die Why?
  • Poecilotheria metallica, the amazing and beautiful blue tarantula

Image: Hermanus Backpackers


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