Sharks in danger...because of soup!

By Derek

Sharks are the top predators in the ocean. A predator is an animal that eats other animals. Sharks are at the top of the "food chain". The food chain is made up of different kinds of sea animals eating each other, although some sea animals eat nothing but plants. For example, some sharks eat fish such as tuna and tuna eat smaller fish such as mackerel. Sharks play a part in keeping our oceans balanced and healthy.

A food chain

There are many types of sharks, and they eat many types of food. The whale shark is the largest, growing to over 20 meters long, and weighing up to 35,000 kilograms. The whale shark feeds on small organisms, such as plankton, crustaceans, tiny fish, and occasionally larger fish and squid. They are gentle fish, and people sometimes swim next to them. The smallest shark is about the size of a man's hand. 

The largest shark - the whale shark

The smallest shark - a dwarf lantern shark

Not Monsters

The sharks that people know about the best are the ones we see on TV and in movies. These include large sharks such as the great white shark. The great white eats fish, seals and smaller sharks. We know the great white shark from movies like "Jaws", but it is important to remember that, around the world, there are only about 100 shark attacks on people each year, and most of them do not end in death. 

The 1975 movie that made many people think sharks are bad

If you go to the beach, you are much more likely to die falling down the stairs or slipping in your hotel shower than to be bitten by a shark. Sharks sometimes bite people to see what they taste like, or they might mistake people for seals.

A great white shark chasing a seal


The video below shows how a shark could mistake a human on a surfboard for a seal

Sharks in Danger

Even though many people wrongly think sharks are "bad", sharks are important for our environment because of their role in the food chain. But sharks are in danger. Every year, between about 25 to 100 million (100,000,000) sharks are killed, mostly for their fins. Shark fins are among the most expensive seafood products worldwide, commonly selling at US$400 (400,000 Korean won) per kilogram (kg). 

When a shark is "finned", the fin is cut off, and the shark is often thrown back into the ocean, bleeding, where it will die. The fins are then used in shark's fin soup, which is very popular in China and some other countries. Some people think that sharks' fins and other parts are magic, or that they can be used as medicine. This is not true -- there is no scientific evidence to show that eating shark parts can cure diseases.

In a few days, it will be soup.

Sharks lie dead after having their top fin cut off

Popular in Chinese restaurants

Many people around the world are trying to stop people eating shark's fin soup so that sharks will not become endangered or extinct. Protecting the environment is not just about recycling or walking instead of driving: protecting sharks also protects the environment. So watch what you eat!

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This video is not about finning, but is interesting. People rescuing a shark!