![]() Right? Not Enough BuoyancyĮrr– it doesn’t work that way. On the other side of the coin, you’d think sharks with spiracles would have a field day sleeping with ease since they can stop swimming. That should count as sleeping, or it would have to suffice. Instead, they have inactive periods when they rest their brain.ĭuring this period, they maintain a level of consciousness to keep swimming. It’s only reasonable for these two categories to have different sleeping postures.Īs you’d expect, the sharks that swim continuously can’t afford to fall into a deep sleep (they certainly wouldn’t want an accident that could cost them their life!). And the not-so-fortunate lot who have to keep swimming to keep the oxygen supply steady. Some have spiracles and are fortunate enough to breathe without swimming continuously. As stated above, there are two categories of sharks. What is “sleep” for a Shark?įor starters, the answer to this question is plagued with the difficulty of defining what ‘sleep’ means to sharks. It’s nothing like having shades of black or white– In fact, it includes a few hues of gray.īut we’ll break it down. Sharks’ sleep doesn’t have a definite answer despite these studies. Their sleeping habit has been a mystery long enough to be the subject of extensive studies. Since movies and a couple of shark attacks portrayed them as the bad guys, people have developed an interest in their lifestyle. Do sharks sleep?Īdmittedly, sharks have been the subject of several kinds of research. Most sharks have spiracles except species like the great white shark, hammerheads who swim nonstop. By nature, they lay still, ready to ambush their prey. Unfortunately, not all sharks are privileged to own a spiracle. With spiracles, sharks can breathe without swimming the length and breadth of the sea. Sharks use these openings to ingest water into the buccal space and pass it through the gills. What are spiracles? These are openings located behind the eyes. Sharks with spiracles are the exceptions to the “no swim no oxygen” rule. Reading Suggestion: Do Sharks Have Tongues? Spiracles The name depicts how they swim with speed to force water through their gills. But the ones that bear this burden are known as obligate ram ventilators. With over 500 shark species engulfed by the depths of oceans globally, the disparity in their nature isn’t surprising. What would you do if your oxygen depended on swimming? Never sleep, right? We wouldn’t say sharks never sleep, but sleeping means a completely different thing to them.
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