Christian Diaz

8th period
January 26, 2015

Sharks Lifespan/Lifestyle
Sharks, like all fish, grow larger throughout their lives. Even
after maturity (when they are able to reproduce), they continue to
grow, but at a slower pace. Different species of shark grow at
different rates. People can determine a shark's age by counting
the growth rings of its vertebrae (the backbones); this is a lot like
counting tree rings. This does not determine a shark's life span,
only the age of an individual.
There are many different species of sharks whose life spans range
widely. Very little is known about the life spans of most sharks.
More is being discovered all the time.
Determining the lifespan of sharks is a difficult task as they are
very tough to monitor in the ocean because of their migratory and
feeding patterns. Even more, it has been demonstrated that the
lifespan of sharks in captivity is considerably shorter from those in
the wild, making impractical to generate deductions from those
individuals in captivity. Shark lifespan vary by kind. Although the
majority of types live 20 to 30 years in the wild, there are some
kinds that live much longer than others.
For example, the spiny dogfish has one of the longest
lifespan at more than 100 years, while the blue shark in the wild
has an average lifespan of 15-16 year. As I mentioned before,
blue shark life span lowers down to 8 years when held in captivity,
perhaps as a result of the inactivity inherent to captivity.
A shark being hold captive may cause him or her to live less
than those in the wild. Reason being of that is because a shark
isnt use to being held captive. They like being wild. They enjoy
being free. Lets say that Great White Sharks live up to 20 to 30
Years in the wild (open oceans). Then if the Great White Shark is
help captive in an Aquarium. The shark obviously will live about
half or maybe less that its normal years.
Sharks dont always stay in the same place all their lives.
They may move because their habitats have been in an oil spill,
or even a lack of food then they will search out other locations

where they can reside. Even though scientist cant really tell how
many years a shark can live. These are some of their research
and what they have found so far.
DIFFERENT TYPE OF SHARKS & LIFESPAN YEARS.
Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are also thought to live
above 100 years, suggesting that the time to reach maturity is
longer and offspring will require longer to born, making this type
of shark more vulnerable. Some experts believe that the amount
of growth rings on a whale sharks vertebrae may be an indicator
of their age. In captivity, whale sharks are not quite happy as in
few cases they have died within days, but at most they have
reached only 8 years.
Great White Sharks is around 30 years but other research
indicates that they can reach up to 40 years.
Tiger Sharks in the wild is believed to be 27 years in
average, although some may live up to 50 years of age. Like with
other species, tiger sharks in captivity do not live as lengthy as in
wildlife reaching only 17 to 20 years
The repercussion of captivity in the life-span of Leopard
Sharks is certainly dramatic. If they are kept in smaller tanks
they have a really short expectancy of approximately 9 years
while larger aquarium tanks can help them to have a longer life
that can reach up to 25 years. In the wild, it is thought that their
life expectancy is 30 years.
Sandbar sharks or Brown sharks are considered to live
between 20 and 30 years. In 2004, Researcher Joung identified
that Sandbar sharks may live up to 20 years. In 1996, Researcher
Sminkey mentioned that sandbar sharks can live to be more than
30 years old.
The age of silky or Blackspot sharks can be established by
counting the quantity of growth rings that develop on their
vertebrae as with other species, with each ring standing for
around one year of life. It is believed that Silky Sharks can live up
25 years in the wild.