14 Sharks Want to Eat You Up in 3 Seconds

You’re swimming 2 miles down at the bottom of the ocean. Don’t ask me how, just play along. It’s cold, and the pressure is intense, no fish in sight.

Then, you notice a green shiny thing. It’s a Cookie Cutter Shark. Its neck glows in the dark to attract fish and other delicious treats. The shark doesn’t look like much, it’s small, about the size of a cat. It has brown skin and large green eyes. But looks can be deceiving.

Every night, this creature rises to the surface and goes after Great White Sharks, whales, and even Swordfish. If you look closely, you’ll see a round mouth with a bunch of sharp teeth in it. They don’t just bite, they work kind of like a saw. This one’s called a Cookie Cutter Shark because when it sees something delicious, it takes a cookie-shaped bite out of it! These sharks have even been known to disable submarines, wonder what flavor they are?

Our next shark is about the length of a car. Only about a hundred of these sharks have ever been seen, but if you met one, you’d never forget it. It has a big mouth, a huge mouth... a megamouth! Like me! It’s the Megamouth Shark. You could easily fit in it if you curled yourself up.

They’re not dangerous though, not to humans. They feed by swimming around with their mouths open, filtering out plankton and other underwater goodies. The shark has special organs in its mouth that glow, attracting little crustaceans. It swims deep in the ocean, in total darkness. Probably has a great smile though.

Thresher Sharks also have a huge body part — the tail. It’s almost half the length of the shark itself, and it looks like a helicopter blade. It’s one of the few animals that hunt using its tail.

The shark sneaks up on a school of fish and starts to shake its moneymaker. This freaks out some of the fish, which is exactly the plan. In a pinch, it can also use its tail to defend itself. The best thing about this shark, it doesn’t attack people.

The Angel Shark. There are quite a few different types of Angel sharks out there, but they’re more a shark than an angel. They’re flat like stingrays and their skin is covered with patterns that help them blend in with the seafloor. Because of this disguise, divers sometimes accidentally touch them, which isn’t the best idea. They’re fast and have powerful jaws. Still, they prefer the taste of small fish to you!

The Horn Shark has 2 ridges that look like horns right above its eyes. It’s definitely the grandpa of the shark world, not aggressive, swims pretty slowly, and is up late almost every night. Its 2 favorite meals — sea urchins and crustaceans. It moves its fins on the seafloor almost as if it had paws. But don’t underestimate this guy, it has one of the strongest bites of any shark. It needs those strong teeth to crush the shells of its late-night meals. And if something tries to attack it, watch out. Horn Sharks have sharp spikes on their fins.

The award for the ugliest shark goes to the Goblin Shark, and it’s not even close. From the outside, it already looks kinda weird and is about the size of a pink underwater motorbike. It has a long tail and a seriously long nose. It lives way down in the depths of the ocean and loves to eat squid.

It’s not as fast as its relatives, but it’s way more sneaky. It has a secret squid-catching technique which is totally wild. The shark swims behind the squid, it’s catching up, getting closer and closer! But the squid isn’t slowing down, no way. It looks like the poor Goblin Shark won’t have any lunch today.

Then it opens its mouth. Its jaw is attached to folds of skin which mean it can literally throw its jaw out of its mouth! And it’s a shark, so those teeth are sharp. That extra reach helps it grab its lunch, and when the meal’s over, it pops its jaw back in its mouth. These sharks have been seen many times off the coast of Japan, they’re actually named after the goblins in Japanese myths and fairy tales.

There’s only one thing out there cooler than a Ninja Shark. It’s the Ninja Lantern Shark. Imagine there’s a tube you can slide down that takes you to the bottom of the ocean. It’s too dark, you can’t see anything. Suddenly, a glowing dot, moving around in the distance. It’s coming closer, shooting towards you. It’s a blue, glowing head. Worse, it looks like this head doesn’t have a body attached to it.

The Ninja Lantern Shark has black skin, so it’s almost invisible in the dark. It’s only the size of a human arm, but its small sharp teeth are no joke. No one really knows why this shark glows... Maybe to attract tasty fish? Another theory out there is that it uses this light to communicate with its friends. Does it have friends?

The Hammerhead Shark. These ferocious sharks can weigh up to half a ton. They live in tropical waters all over the world, and they’re one of the most recognizable sharks out there. Their eyes are really located on the sides of their “hammer-head”. This means they can see in almost all directions.

They even have special neck muscles, to lift their head up and down, just to see that little bit better. Their favorite food? Stingrays, you know, those flat things that swim along the seafloor, camouflaged to look like sand and bits of rock. Stingrays get by blending in with their surroundings, danger mostly just swims by. But the Hammerhead’s eyes see everything. Uh-oh.

Great White sharks, Hammerheads and other large sharks live for about 25 years. But one shark can live much, much longer. The Greenland shark can live anywhere from 300 to 500 years. It lives mostly in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

It loves to swim deep down where it’s dark, so it uses its nose to sniff out food. Since it spends so much time down there, it’s figured out how to withstand the strong pressure. It’s one of the oldest living, largest and slowest fish on Earth. Just imagine, you’re on an Arctic cruise, and you see one of these sharks, moving slowly through the freezing cold water...

It might be 400 years older than you! Most sharks are omnivorous. They can go after dolphins, other sharks, crabs, sea urchins, and smaller or even larger fish. Hot Dogs! Naw, kidding about the hot dogs.

But the Bonnet-head Shark is a bit different. It eats algae for about half of its meals. It’s actually related to the hammerhead shark, but its head looks more like a shovel. Can you dig it?

If you see this guy swimming around, you might think it’s a sea snake or a huge water worm. Frilled Sharks like to swim way down at the bottom of the ocean, like a lot of sharks.

When they’re chasing something delicious, they move kind of like a snake. And just like a snake, they like to gulp down their lunch all in one piece. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have teeth! They have about 200 nice and sharp ones.

The Saw-shark has a long, flat, and seriously spiky nose. Those teeth on its nose never stop growing! Each tooth is equipped with electric receptors, to help the Saw Shark “feel” around for nearby fish, like a ship’s radar. When dinner’s nearby, the shark swims up and strikes with its nose, waving it around like a knight showing off his skills.

Meanwhile, you won’t have time to blink if this guy floats past. Did you see it? How about now? Meet the fastest shark in the world, the Short-fin Mako Shark.

It can swim up to 35mph. That doesn’t seem that quick on land, but underwater, that’s fast. Slower than a cheetah, but faster than most dogs. It’s warm-blooded, which is super rare for a shark. That helps it swim to cold and distant places where an ordinary shark simply wouldn’t survive.

The Swordfish goes much faster. It can swim up to 60 mph. It’s not a shark, but it’s still an amazing creature. In a race, the swordfish usually come out on top. But it’s not just fast, it’s ingeniously fast.

It has a gland next to its nose that pumps out a special oil. This oil spreads through its nose and comes out through tiny holes. This special oil is waterproof, which lets the Swordfish glide through the water at high speed!