Sharks belong to the class Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fishes. They do not have any bones, but instead have a skeleton made of cartilage. They have 5, 6 or 7 paired gill slits on the side of their head. They also have placoid scales, called dermal denticles and pectoral fins not attached to the head above their gill openings. When people think of a shark, they usually have one image in their mind and it’s that of the great white. A shark with a large dorsal fin protruding from the water, a torpedo -shaped body and huge teeth. In reality, there are over 536 different species of shark, all of them varying in size and appearance. 

Learn more about these amazing animals with the fact pages linked below.