What if Sharks Went Extinct? Since sharks help balance the ecosystem, their disappearance would lead to a catastrophic domino effect. Fish populations would explode out of control, leading to mass shortages of food and other marine resources.
What We Could Lose. Without sharks as apex predators, the entire ocean ecosystem could fall out of balance. They not only maintain the species below them in the food chain, but also indirectly maintain seagrass and coral reef habitats.
And if they were to disappear, the repercussions on ocean food webs would ultimately affect humans, too. "Fisheries may collapse, with artisanal fishers being the likely most affected, and popular tourism destinations which rely on sharks to attract tourists will also suffer greatly," Bortoluzzi said.
If shark populations were disappear today, there would be disastrous consequences for the oceans, our environment, and human life. It is essential that we work to protect these crucial apex predators, so that we can keep the planet in balance.
'If an animal as big as megalodon still lived in the oceans we would know about it.' The sharks would leave telltale bite marks on other large marine animals, and their huge teeth would continue littering the ocean floors in their tens of thousands.
It's thought that megalodon sharks became extinct in part due to climate change: as oceans grew colder, they may not have been able to regulate their temperatures as needed. Lack of prey could be behind the megalodon's extinction, as many marine animals and fish could not survive the cold temperatures.
The Godzilla Shark is a unique and fascinating creature. At 6.7 feet long, this shark was one of the largest of its kind during its lifetime. By comparison, many modern sharks are much bigger. Yet this ancient shark was massive for its time.
Imbalance In Ecology
Additionally, ants are the foundation of the food pyramid. If ants went extinct, the food chain would collapse, and it would affect every organism. If ants go extinct many other insects, birds, and animals that rely on ants as a food source will also suffer.
Sharks have roamed the Earth's oceans for more than 400 million years. In the process, the animals have survived five mass extinction events, including the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. This latter extinction event occurred around 66 million years ago, marking the end of the Cretaceous period.
As a group, sharks have been around for at least 420 million years, meaning they have survived four of the “big five” mass extinctions. That makes them older than humanity, older than Mount Everest, older than dinosaurs, older even than trees.
Fifteen Dog Breeds That Have Become Extinct
Breeding has also played a factor in which dogs have become extinct. As you'll learn, many times, extinct dogs didn't drop off the face of the earth but were rather bred to create new breeds that are still around today.
So, while most sharks will be 100% fine if they stop swimming, a few iconic species such as great white sharks, whale sharks, hammerheads and mako sharks would suffocate without forward motion or a strong current flowing towards their mouths.
15% of 1000 Survey respondents said they would agree to be attacked by a shark for the cool story. *If they knew they would survive without long-term damage or ill effects. You have an 89.4% chance of surviving a shark attack.
Sharks play a very important role in marine areas, sitting at the top of the food chain, and help maintain the delicate balance of marine life.
Myth #1: Sharks Must Swim Constantly, or They Die
Some sharks must swim constantly in order to keep oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills, but others are able to pass water through their respiratory system by a pumping motion of their pharynx. This allows them to rest on the sea floor and still breathe.
The scientists speculate that the selective extinction in sharks may indicate an overall change in diet from more specialized predators to one of fish generalists. Ultimately, sharks proved to be more resilient in the face of extinction than most vertebrate groups.
Many researchers suggest that the species at that time might have the capability of regeneration and repair of DNA that led to the foundation of sharks' survival. We need to consider the fact that the studies on prehistoric shark species entirely depend on the teeth they shed, not the bones or fossils found.
Massive numbers of sharks died abruptly 19 million years ago, new data show. Fossils from sediments in the Pacific Ocean reveal that 90 percent of them vanished. And so far, scientists don't know why.
If flies went extinct the planet would fill up with excrement and rotting flesh. If flies went extinct the world would fill up with rotting organic rubbish. It's because flies are composters. They act as scavengers alongside isopods eating and laying eggs on dead animals, excrement, dead wood, and anything rotting.
Environmental Impact of Mosquito Extinction
Without the mosquitoes, many animals could decline due to a lack of food. Fish populations could be impacted, as many fish species rely on mosquito larvae as a food source. Bats that rely largely on mosquitoes for food may also decline or even go extinct if mosquitoes did.
Ant colonies have specialised undertakers for the task. They usually carry their dead to a sort of graveyard or take them to a dedicated tomb within the nest. Some ants bury their dead. This strategy is also adopted by termites forming a new colony when they can't afford the luxury of corpse carriers.
The Hoffman's Dragon Shark (Dracopristis hoffmanorum) is an extinct species of shark that lived during the Carboniferous period about 307 million years ago. The fossil of this prehistoric shark was discovered in New Mexico in 2013, and the first full description was published in 2021.
Gojira is actually the combination of two Japanese words: gorira, which means gorilla and kujira which means whale. So when people are screaming their heads off about Godzilla (as they do in many of these movies), they're actually saying a Japanese portmanteau of gorilla-whale.
King Ghidorah showed that Godzilla mutated from a late-surviving theropod dinosaur. The carnivore looked like the old, dumpy restorations of Tyrannosaurus from the mid-20th century, and, no surprise, the fictional dinosaur is known as Godzillasaurus.