Trivia Cafe

29 Shark Trivia Questions and Answers

Shark trivia about the whale shark, the great white, the hammerhead and their relatives: how sharks are built, how they sense their prey, the extinct megalodon, and the film that made them famous. Each question was checked against its source. The answers are printed under the questions.

There are 29 questions on this page. They are free to use for quiz nights, classrooms and pub quizzes, and each one links to its own page.

Related lists: Ocean trivia questions, Bird trivia questions, Dog trivia questions, Weather trivia questions, Horror Movie trivia questions.

  1. 1.What are shark skeletons made of, instead of bone?

    Answer: Cartilage

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  2. 2.Which feeding method does the whale shark use?

    Answer: Filter feeding

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  3. 3.What is the second-largest living fish, also a filter-feeding shark?

    Answer: The basking shark

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  4. 4.Which kind of man-eating shark attacks beachgoers in the 1975 film Jaws?

    Answer: A great white shark

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  5. 5.Which 1974 novel by Peter Benchley was the basis for the film Jaws?

    Answer: Jaws

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  6. 6.Which shark is named for the shape of its head?

    Answer: The hammerhead shark

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  7. 7.Which shark is named for the dark stripes on its body when young?

    Answer: The tiger shark

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  8. 8.Which aggressive shark lives in warm, shallow brackish and freshwater systems, including the lower reaches of rivers?

    Answer: The bull shark

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  9. 9.Which shark is the fastest known shark species?

    Answer: The shortfin mako

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  10. 10.Which shark of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans is notable for its exceptional longevity?

    Answer: The Greenland shark

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  11. 11.What are the sensory organs that let sharks detect electric fields called?

    Answer: Ampullae of Lorenzini

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  12. 12.What is the skin of a shark covered in?

    Answer: Dermal denticles

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  13. 13.Which extinct giant shark, whose name means "big tooth", lived approximately 23 to 3.58 million years ago?

    Answer: Megalodon

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  14. 14.Which group of fish do sharks and rays belong to?

    Answer: Elasmobranchii (cartilaginous fish)

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  15. 15.Which shark's name refers to its feeding method of gouging round plugs out of larger animals?

    Answer: The cookiecutter shark

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  16. 16.Which rare deep-sea shark has an elongated, flat snout and highly protrusible jaws?

    Answer: The goblin shark

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  17. 17.What is the scientific name of the great white shark?

    Answer: Carcharodon carcharias

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  18. 18.Which week of shark-themed programming did the Discovery Channel begin in 1988?

    Answer: Shark Week

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  19. 19.What is the practice of cutting off a shark's fins and discarding the rest called?

    Answer: Shark finning

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  20. 20.Which deep-water shark was first discovered in 1976?

    Answer: The megamouth shark

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  21. 21.How many gill slits do sharks have along the sides of the head?

    Answer: Five to seven

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  22. 22.Unlike bony fish, sharks lack which gas-filled organ used for buoyancy?

    Answer: A swim bladder

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  23. 23.Which film tells of a waterspout that lifts sharks out of the ocean and deposits them in Los Angeles?

    Answer: Sharknado

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  24. 24.What is the title of the 1978 sequel to Jaws?

    Answer: Jaws 2

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  25. 25.Which composer created the ominous, minimalist shark theme of the 1975 film Jaws?

    Answer: John Williams

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  26. 26.In which New England beach town does the 1975 film Jaws take place?

    Answer: Amity Island

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  27. 27.In Finding Nemo, what kind of shark is Bruce?

    Answer: A great white shark

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  28. 28.Which 1999 Renny Harlin film features genetically enhanced mako sharks?

    Answer: Deep Blue Sea

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  29. 29.In which film starring Jason Statham do scientists encounter a 75 ft megalodon?

    Answer: The Meg

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