Tiger Sharks had been on my bucket list for SO LONG. I was lucky to tag along with some friends to Jupiter Florida where all my tiger shark dreams came true. 😀 The tigers are insanely beautiful. Gorgeous markings, graceful movements and it was thrilling to be in the water with them!
Tiger Shark Facts:
- They have a massive appetite and will eat almost anything, including fish, sea turtles and marine mammals, but will also eat human rubbish. Car license plates, baseballs and car tires have been found in their stomachs.
- The uniquely shaped teeth of a tiger shark are like the sail of a boat or a part of the Sydney Opera House. They are large and notched with saw-like edges. A tiger shark’s teeth are so strong they can cut through the shell of a sea turtle or a clam. If they break, tiger sharks can grow a new one in a day!
- As for the maximum size, there have been reports of tiger sharks growing over 20 feet long, but the largest confirmed specimen was 18 feet long and over 3000 pounds. At birth, tiger sharks are a little over 1 foot long.
- In its family, the tiger shark is the only species of shark that is ovoviviparous. That’s a combination of oviparous (laying eggs) and viviparous (giving birth to live young). Female tiger sharks develop eggs inside their bodies, but do not lay them. Instead, the eggs stay inside the female’s body, nourished by the yolk of the egg, hatch there and continue to develop, taking as long as 16 months. When they are fully developed, the live young are born. A female tiger shark can have as many as eighty pups in a litter!
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