Sharks have always held a special place in the collective imagination of humanity. Subjects of fantastic, myths and legends, objects of worship, symbols of ancient civilizations, and even “stars” on the silver screen, they have been a source of fear and fascination’ for centuries. But what we know today about the behavior of sharks makes us less wary of them and helps us to protect them from exploitation and senseless slaughter. Sharks provide a remarkably wide range of products, from vitamin-rich oils, squalene, and anticoagulants to leather. Today we are less concerned with how to avoid falling prey to sharks and more concerned with how to best utilize them as valuable marine resources.

We are still learning about them, however, and questions about sharks have no easy answers, so great is the variety of species, sizes, habits, and habitats. The anatomical differences between cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays, and chimaeras) and bony fish are so great that it is impossible to class them together. The former, members of the class Chondrichthyes, all have cartilaginous skeletons, which are less complex than true bony skeletons.

By Gaetano Cfiero and Maddalena Jahoda

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