Sharks are well known for their powerful bodies that can thrash and pulverize large prey, and the fact that they can swim non-stop. They are also known to have a lot of teeth, and it is common to wonder how many shark teeth they have and what they are made of.
One of the most important things to know about how many bones sharks have in their body is that they do not have bones in their body. They do have a spine, which is what makes them classed as vertebrates, but that spinal column is made of cartilage rather than bone. This gives them the flexibility that they need to move gracefully through the water and allows them to save energy by not having to push as hard against the water as they would if they had bones in their skeletons.
The Skeletons of the Deep: Exploring the Bone Structure of Sharks
The skeletons of sharks are mostly made of cartilage, which is the soft connective tissue that you can find on the tips of your fingers and around your ears. Cartilage is more flexible and less dense than bone, which helps sharks to be able to bend their bodies at sharp angles, which is what helps them to maneuver in the water so easily. As sharks grow older, their cartilage can harden and become calcified, which makes them look a bit more like a traditional bone structure.
Sharks have between 5 and 15 rows of teeth in their mouths, which they use for different purposes. They have pointed “intermediate” teeth that are used to grip their prey, flat crushing molars that break down the food, and sharp cutting blades that rip into flesh and bone. The rows of teeth are stacked like dominoes, and sharks are continuously replacing their teeth throughout their lives.
