Sharks Info, attacks and stats

Male sharks have a pair of claspers that are formed from the inner pelvic fins. I will get into further detail on shark reproduction later. Males provide parental care for the young. While the young are in the pouch, males give oxygen through a capillary network, transfer nutrients, and change the atmosphere in the pouch. Male sharks have modified pelvic fins called claspers. They also have two muscular sacs (siphon sacs) in their abdominal wall, which they fill with seawater.

Males transfer sperm into the females cloaca through a set of clasepers that are formed from the inner edge of their pelvic fins. Males hold on to the female by biteing onto her pectoral fin and swiming beside her.

Gestation is thought to span over a year (but perhaps much longer), with a small and unknown number of young born fully developed at 1.5-2 metres (5-6.5 feet) in length. Mating is thought to occur in early summer and birthing in late summer, following the female’s movement into shallow coastal waters. Gestation periods vary among species and between individuals within a species. Since sharks and batoids are ectothermic (”cold-blooded”), there is no precise gestation time. Gestation times are unknown but doubtless long - close to a year, perhaps. It is possible that any one female only reproduces biennially, mating soon after giving birth, but this remains to be confirmed.

Gestation is believed to take approximately one year. A pregnant female with biting scars and wounds on the sides of her body, taken off the coast of north-northeastern Brazil, carried four near-term embryos.