20 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 20 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.What are shark skeletons made of, instead of bone?
Answer: Cartilage
Open this question2.Which feeding method does the whale shark use?
Answer: Filter feeding
Open this question3.What is the second-largest living fish, also a filter-feeding shark?
Answer: The basking shark
Open this question4.Which kind of man-eating shark attacks beachgoers in the 1975 film Jaws?
Answer: A great white shark
Open this question5.Which 1974 novel by Peter Benchley was the basis for the film Jaws?
Answer: Jaws
Open this question6.Which shark is named for the shape of its head?
Answer: The hammerhead shark
Open this question7.Which shark is named for the dark stripes on its body when young?
Answer: The tiger shark
Open this question8.Which aggressive shark lives in warm, shallow brackish and freshwater systems, including the lower reaches of rivers?
Answer: The bull shark
Open this question9.Which fast shark is often called the fastest shark?
Answer: The shortfin mako
Open this question10.Which shark of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans is notable for its exceptional longevity?
Answer: The Greenland shark
Open this question11.What are the sensory organs that let sharks detect electric fields called?
Answer: Ampullae of Lorenzini
Open this question12.What is the skin of a shark covered in?
Answer: Dermal denticles
Open this question13.Which extinct giant shark, whose name means "big tooth", lived approximately 23 to 3.58 million years ago?
Answer: Megalodon
Open this question14.Which group of fish do sharks and rays belong to?
Answer: Elasmobranchii (cartilaginous fish)
Open this question15.Which shark's name refers to its feeding method of gouging round plugs out of larger animals?
Answer: The cookiecutter shark
Open this question16.Which shark has a very long, flattened snout covered with sensory pores, found in the deep sea?
Answer: The goblin shark
Open this question17.What is the scientific name of the great white shark?
Answer: Carcharodon carcharias
Open this question18.Which week of shark-themed programming did the Discovery Channel begin in 1988?
Answer: Shark Week
Open this question19.What is the practice of cutting off a shark's fins and discarding the rest called?
Answer: Shark finning
Open this question20.Which deep-water shark was first discovered in 1976?
Answer: The megamouth shark
Open this question