The Whip Tail Sharks

Thresher sharks swim into schools of fish and whip their long tails around. The force of the water stuns some of the fish, and the sharks are able to feed upon them while the senseless fish are rendered immobile from the shock wave. The tails can also be used to defend themselves from larger sharks. Although they mostly eat fish, they also prey upon cephalopods, crabs, and even sea birds unlucky enough to rest in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are 3 species of thresher sharks known to science: the common thresher (Alopias vulpinus), the pelagic thresher (A. pelagicus), and the big-eye thresher (A. superciliousus). The former species is the largest, growing to 20 feet long. An even larger species of thresher (A. grandis) lived as recently as the Miocene 5 million years ago. Teeth from this extinct species have been found off the coast of Italy. Scientists believe it grew as large as a great white shark. Not much is known about it. It may be the evolutionary ancestor of one of…