Sharks and Rays of Canaveral National Seashore

A lemon shark in the Atlantic Ocean. Photo: NPS/Sarah Sumrall.

Canaveral National Seashore is home to a wide variety of wildlife — including, in the lagoon and the ocean, one of the most elusive and feared animals on Earth: the shark. Its miles of beaches, mangrove forest, salt marsh and seagrass habitats make the Atlantic Ocean and Mosquito Lagoon home to hundreds of fish species. Worldwide there are more than 500 species of sharks.

A shark nursery

The Indian River Lagoon has historically been the northernmost shark nursery in the United States, though nursery habitats are shifting north as temperatures change. It is a nursery for many other fish too.

• Bull sharks are routinely born in the lagoon, where warm summer water helps the pups grow.
• Other sharks that visit park waters include the blacktip, sandbar, lemon and scalloped hammerhead.

Sharks, skates and rays

Sharks, skates and rays together form the elasmobranchs. They have skeletons of cartilage and no swim bladder, and both sharks and rays carry ampullae of Lorenzini — electric sensors near the mouth that help them find prey. Rays found in the lagoon or offshore include the southern stingray, Atlantic stingray, bluntnose stingray, smooth butterfly ray, spotted eagle ray and cownose ray.

Teeth on the beach

Sharks have about 5 rows of teeth. With no roots like ours, the teeth fall out often — which is why they turn up on the beach. For most people, finding a tooth is as close as they want to get. A few thrill seekers, like the park's volunteer Sarah, enjoy close encounters, and apps such as Ocearch's let anyone follow the migrations of tagged great whites, bull sharks, tiger sharks and sea turtles.

Why sharks matter

Sharks are apex predators, often at the top of the food web, and where their prey go depends on them. A sea turtle wary of a lurking shark, for example, keeps moving around a seagrass bed, so no single patch is overharvested. "Hitchhiker" species that travel with sharks, rays and sea turtles add to the food web too.

How you can help

• Avoid cosmetics containing squalene.
• Encourage positive conversations about sharks.
• Support ecotourism that puts wildlife protection first.

Sources

Based on "Sharks of Canaveral National Seashore," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source's comparisons of gills and of "boney" teeth with other fish are left out.