What Sharks Actually Eat

“Sharks will eat anything” is one of the biggest shark myths there is. Most sharks are picky.

There are more than 500 kinds of sharks, and they eat wildly different things. Grouping all sharks together and asking what they eat is a bit like grouping every bird on Earth and asking what “birds” eat. The question is far bigger than it sounds.

Many sharks eat fish and squid. Some eat crabs, lobsters and shellfish, crushing the shells with flat teeth. Some, like the great white, hunt seals and sea lions. And some of the largest sharks in the ocean eat some of the smallest food: whale sharks, basking sharks and megamouth sharks are filter feeders, straining plankton and tiny fish out of the water by the ton.

Tiger sharks have a reputation as the great experimenters of the shark world. They eat sea turtles, rays, birds and fish, and they’ll give a lot of things a try. Even they have their favourites, though.

Then there are the specialists. The cookiecutter shark is small and takes neat round bites out of much larger animals. Megamouth sharks filter tiny shrimp-like creatures from deep water. Some deep-sea sharks simply eat whatever drifts down from above, because that’s what’s on the menu.

The “sharks eat people” part

This is the myth worth clearing up. People are not part of any shark’s normal diet. Shark bites are rare, and when they happen they’re usually a case of mistaken identity or simple curiosity — a shark checking something unfamiliar, not ordering lunch. You are not on the menu anywhere in the ocean.

And one last surprise: not every shark is a pure meat-eater. Tiger sharks and whale sharks have been found with seagrass and algae in their stomachs. Even a top predator nibbles its vegetables now and then.

Did you know? A whale shark can have thousands of tiny teeth — but it doesn’t chew with them. It strains its food through its gills instead.