Sharks live in the black sea. Are there sharks in the Black Sea? Dangerous views near the Crimea. Goblin shark: an unusual visitor from the Pacific Ocean

12.03.2020

On the shores of the Black Sea there are densely populated countries, but at the same time the reservoir is completely isolated from the open oceans. Such conditions are rather unattractive for such dangerous aquatic predators as sharks. Despite this, many tourists, going on vacation to the Black Sea coast, are wondering if there are sharks in the Black Sea.

The growth of such interest is due, as a rule, to the increasing cases of shark attacks on vacationers at various resorts in the world.

Which sharks are dangerous to humans?

To date, there are about 450 species of sharks in the world, which differ in size, living conditions and life. For example, the length of the body of the smallest shark does not exceed 170 mm, but representatives of the largest predators can reach 20 meters or more in length.

Such impressive parameters are distinguished by the whale shark, which is also considered the largest fish on the planet. But it should not be assumed that the large size of the shark necessarily indicates its aggressiveness towards people.

So, whale sharks never attack swimmers, because they feed exclusively on plankton. Of particular danger to a person can be his meeting with: a bull shark, which leads in the number of attacks on a person; a white shark, which was taken as the main character of many films about these predatory inhabitants of the oceans, which is not unreasonable; tiger shark, which is characterized by the highest prevalence throughout the globe; a long-winged shark, also belonging to an extremely dangerous species;

shark - mako; the gray reef shark, which often attacks divers; hammerhead shark (attacks quite rarely); the sand shark, which also attacks swimmers on rare occasions; the blue shark, whose known number of attacks on humans does not exceed 40 cases, a quarter of which nevertheless led to the death of the victim; lemon shark, which is also credited with a certain aggressiveness and danger towards humans, despite the absence of serious attacks.

Sharks in the Black Sea.

Sharks still live in the Black Sea, but the identified species do not pose any danger to humans.

We are talking about the spotted or cat shark skillum and the katran shark, which is also popularly called the sea dog or prickly shark.
shark katran The size of representatives of this species of sharks, as a rule, does not exceed one and a half meters, and only in rare cases have fish been recorded about 2 meters long. Sharks of this type do not belong to centenarians, because their life expectancy does not exceed 20 years. The basis of food is small fish.

As a rule, sea dogs can most often be found only in the depths of the sea, because their appearance on the surface of the sea is a rarity. Sharks move and hunt mainly in packs. Cat shark It should be noted that the cat shark does not belong to the permanent inhabitants of the Black Sea, because more familiar conditions for its living are formed in the Mediterranean Sea and on the Atlantic coast.

Researchers confirm the fact that representatives of this type of sharks enter the Black Sea through the Bosphorus

The cat shark is distinguished by its small size and short life span. So, the length of fish rarely reaches 1 meter, but cat sharks live no longer than 12 years, while giving preference to coastal and near-bottom areas.

The main diet of sharks is represented by a variety of sedentary organisms that can be found at the bottom of the sea, but hunting for active fish for representatives of this species of sharks is a rarity.

Are "guests" from the Mediterranean dangerous?

Both species of sharks found in the Black Sea do not pose any danger to humans. But given the fact that the cat shark most often swims from the Mediterranean Sea, many have a well-founded question regarding the likelihood of movement and more dangerous "guests". In fact, dangerous predators live in the Mediterranean Sea, the number of varieties of which reaches 50. At the same time, sharks have been repeatedly discovered, which are credited with the highest danger in relation to humans. We are talking about the bull shark and white. Researchers assure that dangerous predators can get into the Black Sea through the Bosphorus, but very quickly return back, due to unfavorable living conditions.

The fact is that the Black Sea has a lower salt content, and therefore uninvited "guests" return without even sailing far from the Bosphorus. Unfavorable living conditions for dangerous predators in the waters of the Black Sea are also represented by the lack of a full-fledged food supply and the temperature difference with the transition to the winter period, when the water temperature can drop to 9 degrees. In such conditions, dangerous predators are simply not able to survive and adapt, so you can safely go on vacation to the Black Sea without fear of meeting with predators.

Many tourists who love beach and sea holidays and are going on vacation to the Black Sea for the first time are wondering: are there sharks in the Black Sea? In fact, this is a very serious issue, since it directly concerns your safety and the safety of your loved ones. It can be answered by local residents of coastal villages, and employees of the local tourism industry, and people who are more knowledgeable - specialists in oceanography. To date, the only correct opinion is that two varieties of sharks can be found in the Black Sea.

What sharks are found in the Black Sea?

shark species:

Katran. A small shark whose length varies from one to two meters. However, two meters is a rarity, basically the size of such sharks does not exceed one and a half meters. An alternative name is the spiny spotted shark. It does not pose a danger to humans, the only problem is that you can get hurt on the thorns, which contain a small amount of poison. However, this is rare and occurs at the moment of sorting out the catch.

Scyllium. Alternative name - cat shark. This species is completely harmless: it is bred even in home aquariums. It has a small length - no more than one meter.

During the existence of the Black Sea, there has not yet been a single precedent for shark attacks on humans. Despite the fact that in essence these two species of sharks are predatory, they are very loyal to people, not showing even the most minimal aggression towards them. Even if, during spearfishing, a wounded fish is encountered by tourists, it does not seek to carry out an attack, but rather hides. Sharks stay on the bottom during the day, coming up closer to the surface at night to feed on fish and crustaceans.

Sharks that live in the Black Sea can only be dangerous if they are hooked. In those moments when the hook is pulled out of the shark's mouth, it seriously resists and can injure the fisherman with its fins - here you need to be very careful, because they are very sharp.

Remember: sharks are very tenacious creatures. Even if they are out of the sea for a long time, precautions still need to be taken near it - the fish will do everything possible to return to their native habitat. You need to be especially careful with katrans - as mentioned above, they can injure a person with their thorns.

Why are there no sharks in the Black Sea?

Resting on the Black Sea coast, you don’t have to worry about dangerous man-eating sharks - they definitely don’t exist here. Answering the question "why?", we can safely say that for bloodthirsty creatures there are simply unsuitable living conditions.

The shark breathes with gills, and as it lives, it processes tons of water with gills to further extract oxygen. This is impossible in the Black Sea - already at a depth of 70 meters there is a large amount of hydrogen sulfide in the water, which makes its life simply impossible. In places, hydrogen sulfide lies even closer to the surface.

The shark is a very voracious creature that needs abundant food. The Black Sea is very poor in fish, as well as other marine life, therefore, it simply cannot feed an ordinary shark.

It must be remembered that suitable conditions for sharks dangerous to humans in the Black Sea remain only during the swimming season - from the beginning of May to the end of October. The rest of the time, the water temperature is very low for shark life.

Relax on the Black Sea without unnecessary worries!

Nature has taken care to make the Black Sea safe, free from sharks that pose a threat to humans. It is almost completely isolated from the ocean, distant communication with which occurs through the Bosporus and Dardanelles, saturated with ships.

The states that have been located around the Euxine Pontus since ancient times have many ports, bases, both tourist and military, on the coast. Naval exercises of different countries are systematically held in the waters of the Black Sea. All this makes it completely unattractive for large sharks that are dangerous to humans.

Black Sea sharks

But at the same time, the question of whether sharks are found in the Black Sea can be answered with confidence in the affirmative. After all, katrans are sharks, albeit small, but real. In addition to this species, a cat shark is sometimes found in the waters of the sea, whose habitat is the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It enters Chernoye through the aforementioned straits. Katran is found everywhere, its habitat extends to the entire sea and even the southern part of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov is included in it.

The most common shark in the world

In general, the katran is the most common shark in the world, and the depth at which it can be found reaches 1460 meters.

Since the Black Sea katran is a real shark from the katranov family, the answer to the question of whether sharks are found in the Black Sea will always be positive. What is this sea animal? Squalus acanthias ponticus, or Black Sea katran, refers to cartilaginous fish, which is one of the two existing classes of these aquatic creatures. The most famous of its representatives are sharks.

Katran is found everywhere except lakes

The common katran differs from the terrible killer sharks only in size. Females can reach 180 centimeters in length and weigh up to 15 kilograms. Males are much smaller. The detachment to which the Black Sea katran belongs is called the Spiny Sharks. It was first described in 1758 by the scientist Carl Linnaeus. This sea creature lives in the temperate waters of absolutely all oceans. Are sharks found in the Black Sea, specifically short-finned prickly or blunt-nose prickly (different names for the katran)? Yes, the Black Sea is no exception. But in it these sharks are much less than in other reservoirs. So, in the middle of the last century, up to 27,000,000 pieces of katrans were caught off the coast of Massachusetts annually, that is, on an industrial scale. Now, quotas have been introduced for the production of blunt-nosed spiny sharks, since this species has been given the status of vulnerable, and its population has begun to decrease.

Demanded fish

From the meat of short-finned prickly sharks, very tasty balyk and good canned food are obtained, delicacies are also prepared from the fins. From the fat of the katrans, rich in vitamins A and E, medical and technical fats are obtained. Even from cartilage in 1980 in the USSR, the drug "Katrex" was obtained, supposedly effective in the fight against malignant tumors. Its effectiveness, however, has not been proven. But other drugs derived from the cartilage of the blunt-nosed spiny shark are very effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis or degenerative-dystrophic joint diseases. Therefore, to the question of whether sharks are found in the Black Sea, one can answer that they are not only found, but in such quantities that even raw materials for preparations are obtained from them.

Wrong information

But people vacationing on the Black Sea coast are not very interested in the dignity of fish, if it is a shark. One message about their appearance significantly reduces the number of tourists who planned to relax in one of the Black Sea resorts.

Thus, the information that passed in 2008 that sharks were attacking the coast of Turkey redirected the flow of tourists to other places. Maybe that's why it was launched? The fact is that Bonjuk Bay (Gekova region) is now a protected area, because sand sharks are bred there, that is, these fish are still in Turkey.

Blackfeather Guest

But this is in Turkey, but what about on the Black Sea coast of Russia? For example, are there sharks in the Black Sea in Sochi? The question is more than topical, given the increased popularity of this resort. Moreover, at the beginning of April 2015 there was information that a blacktip shark was seen on the central beach of the city. The Sochi news showed a video in which this inhabitant of tropical and subtropical waters really floated on the surface of the sea, not far from the coast. Experts who spoke on this subject made two versions of the appearance of an uninvited guest. The first suggests that the fish tagged along with the ship from which it was fed, and thus arrived at our shores. The second option assumes that this is a "home shark" that escaped from some private aquarium.

Friendly and welcoming sea

As a rule, these small sharks (they reach only 1.5 meters in length) are not dangerous to humans, as they prefer to hunt schools of schooling fish. But, being an active predator, in the absence of food, these fish can attack a person. Of course, environmental surprises must also be taken into account, because not so long ago a white whale swam into the waters of the southern capital of Russia.

Now, for the time being, with regard to killer fish, it is possible with full confidence to give a negative answer to the question of whether sharks are found in the Black Sea. Sochi is no exception in this regard. Only katrans live in the Black Sea, which, as a rule, do not reach even a meter in length. This body of water off the coast of Russia is very friendly. Of course, there are predators here, such as jellyfish and scorpionfish, rays and sea dragons. But they do not attack a person, and they still need to be looked for.

Our native sharks

Of course, in relation to popular resort towns dependent on the influx of tourists, questions like: "Are there sharks in the Black Sea, in Gelendzhik?" Especially often vacationers are interested in this before the start of the season. Such questions have become more frequent because there were indeed cases of attacks on people in the popular resorts of Egypt. And vacationers are interested to know if the ecology has not affected the Black Sea coast and specifically the city where they were going to go in the summer. And the Internet is full of rumors. Either two white sharks were noticed near the beaches of Turkey, or a predator was splashing near the central beach in Sochi ... So questions arise. But there are also answers. So, one web user answered a similar question that only dog and cat sharks are found off the Russian coast, and no others. The dog is called the Black Sea katran.

Hunter safe for humans

This fish has a perfect body for a hunter and predator, resembling a torpedo, thanks to which it can reach speeds of up to 70 km / h. But it is absolutely not dangerous for people - neither full nor hungry. The only trouble that she can deliver to a person is an injury with poisonous spikes located on the fins. How is it necessary to get a poor fish so that it scratches the hunter at the speed that a katran can develop while running away? Yes, these are sharks, they are predators, but only for the inhabitants of the underwater kingdom they are dangerous. For humans, the sharks of the Black Sea are rather the object of hunting themselves.

There are no man-eating sharks in the Black Sea

And yet, questions such as: “Are there sharks in the Black Sea, in Anapa?” Constantly arise. Moreover, the film "Jaws" was watched by many. Of course, one can imagine that some (or even some) shark can penetrate through the straits into the Black Sea, but it is unlikely that it will swim far from them. The water in the Black Sea is fresher and the temperature difference is very convincing - from 30 degrees Celsius in summer to low rates in winter. No huge predator can bear this for long.

Therefore, to all questions like: “Are there sharks in the Black Sea?”, Photos confirming the fact that they are found, videos and stories of witnesses, we can answer that the appearance of a real predator dangerous to people is a single case, and rather man-made. The shark either escaped from the aquarium or was released for an adrenaline rush.

“Any sea is dangerous, and one of the scariest things is sharks. They swim right off the coast and feed on people: they tear them apart, bite off their arms and legs, there is blood, guts, crazy screams everywhere ... ”- having seen enough of various horror stories, many draw in their imagination exactly this picture and at the mere mention of a vacation at sea they come to horror. How - after all, there are akuuuls!

We hasten to reassure you: sharks will not eat you in the Black Sea. There are simply no man-eating sharks there. So calmly swim and enjoy a good rest with your loved ones!

And if you are still in doubt, read our article about what kind of sharks there are in general and what are found in the Black Sea.

The most dangerous and bloodthirsty predators

In total, there are more than 450 species of sharks of various sizes in nature. The largest is the whale, its body length is more than 20 m, it is the largest fish on Earth. The "miniature" of the sharks is Etmopterus perryi (only 17 cm). Are all sharks worth fearing? Not at all, large sharks (giant and whale) are absolutely harmless, they eat plankton and small crustaceans and filter the water. And they show aggressiveness and predators of smaller sizes - leopard sharks and nurse sharks - can attack a person.

50 species of sharks are dangerous to humans, the leaders of this list are: bull shark, white, tiger, long-winged, mako shark.

Can sharks get into the Black Sea?

Predators can find themselves in the Black Sea in a natural way: from the Mediterranean Sea they enter the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait. Potentially dangerous are 15 species of Mediterranean sharks, including white and bull sharks. But is it worth it to be afraid and refuse the desired vacation?

Of course not! And here's why: according to research, the sharks of the Mediterranean Sea can get into the Black Sea, but they won't be able to survive there. The main obstacle to their spread is that the waters of the Black Sea have a low salt content, especially closer to the surface (17%). This prevents predators from swimming far from the Bosphorus and the Turkish coast. Water seems to them simply “tasteless”, and they will not be able to breed in it either: the eggs will die without going through the full stage of development.

Also, the most important proof of the absence of dangerous sharks here is that there is no suitable food base for cannibal predators in the Black Sea, here they simply cannot satisfy their appetite.

What sharks live in the Black Sea?

And yet, some species of sharks live in the Black Sea, but they are far from the image of bloody horror films. Adapted to survive here: the katran shark (also called the sea dog or prickly shark) and the spotted scillum shark (with the lovely name "feline"). But, we hasten to reassure you, they pose a danger only to marine life, but they do not attack a person.

Dangerous inhabitants of the Black Sea depths

Despite the fact that there are no man-eating sharks here, you should beware of some other inhabitants of the Black Sea. Some types of jellyfish can severely burn (not fatal, but can be painful and overshadow the rest), scorpion snakes and scorpion sea urchins, a sea dragon, a crab can unpleasantly pinch, and a stingray cat or stingray fox can leave their tails deep wounds.

Therefore, be careful and follow the safety rules in the water! And let your vacation bring only pleasant emotions!

Fans of sea bathing, who are going to the Crimea for the first time on vacation, are often interested in whether there are sharks in the Black Sea. Both local residents living in a resort town or village and professional oceanographers will help you get an answer to this question, who confirm that yes, sharks are found in the Black Sea and there are only two species of them. Are they dangerous or not? What dangerous sharks swim in the Black Sea? Do these predators swim close to the coast? We will tell in this article.

Fauna of the Black Sea

The fauna of the Black Sea is not rich in diversity. This is due to the fact that its water is very saturated with hydrogen sulfide. For this reason, many of the representatives of the local flora and fauna simply cannot exist there. Many species of fish and inhabitants of neighboring seas do not swim into the Black Sea from the Mediterranean, because they cannot tolerate the smell of water saturated with hydrogen sulfide.

As you know, sharks prefer to swim in the depths of the seas, and in the Black Sea, hydrogen sulfide thickens and accumulates there. Moreover, a predator can get from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea only by swimming through the Dardanelles, then he needs to swim through the Sea of Marmara, and the narrow Bosphorus Strait. Both straits are not wide, but this is not a problem for the predator, but shallow water in some areas is an obstacle for them.

Types of sharks of the Black Sea: katran and scillium

But still, the answer to the question of whether sharks are found in the Black Sea will be positive. In its depths there are katrans - small sharks that are not a threat to humans, because they hunt fish. They live in packs. The average size of an individual of this species from the shark family is slightly more than a meter in length.

Are katrans dangerous? They cannot kill a person or bite off a limb from him, but they can injure and injure them. The fact is that sharp poisonous spikes are located on the skin and fins of the katran. In some cases, katrans can bite. For life, their bites can be dangerous if a flock attacks. Most often, fishermen suffer from a meeting with a katrans, katrans do not attack ordinary people swimming and swimming in the sea, unless you step on one of those that calmly bask in shallow water.

Outwardly, the katran is similar to its distant relatives: white and blue sharks. This predator is a permanent inhabitant and aboriginal inhabitant of the Black Sea.

Another shark is also found in the Black Sea: cat or scillium. The length of the cat shark does not exceed one meter. Its diet includes Black Sea molluscs and other invertebrates living in the depths. She does not pose a threat to a person and to his life, on the contrary, she tries in every possible way to avoid a meeting.

As you can see, neither a katran nor a cat shark is an enemy to a person, and you still need to figure out who is an enemy to whom, because it is not sharks that hunt a person, but, on the contrary, a person hunts a shark. In Crimea, all vacationers are offered to taste mouth-watering fish in the form of a smoked delicacy - balyk, which is similar in taste to expensive sturgeon.

Black Sea sharks are actually very tasty. You can try the meat of these predators both in the restaurant and on the beach, where it is offered by local merchants. But here you need to be vigilant. You need to buy fish products in stores where they are stored according to the rules.

For lovers of sea hunting, local fishermen are ready to show a master class on how to catch a katran with a bait. This is an interesting and exciting activity for all those who love to go fishing.

Another interesting entertainment that you will certainly be offered in the Crimea is diving. Having dived to the depth where these and other "inhabitants" of the Black Sea live, you will get aesthetic pleasure and feel like a part of the unexplored underwater world of the Black Sea.

Goblin shark: an unusual visitor from the Pacific Ocean

And now a little history. In 2010, in the Crimea, off the coast of Sevastopol, local fishermen caught the Goblin shark, which lives in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Naturally, they were puzzled by such a catch, as a result of which the sensational catch became the cause of litigation as to how this creature could get into the waters of the Black Sea, which is located at a distance of thousands of kilometers from her home. Here is what is said about this in the expedition reports of the Kharkov researcher of anomalous phenomena Sergey Petrov:

“The Sevastopol fishermen were quite surprised when they caught this monster. Many marine reptiles have been seen here, but such a specimen was caught for the first time. The footage that came to the Mobile Reporter website shows how the sailors do not know what to do with the catch. The goblin shark, goblin shark, rhinoceros shark or scapanorhynchus (lat. Mitsukurina owstoni) got into the net of fishermen. The fish got its name for its bizarre appearance: the shark's muzzle ends with a long cranoid outgrowth. This species is little studied, less than five dozen specimens are known to science.

The brownie lives off the coast of Japan in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and how he ended up in the Antlantka, where the salinity of the water is different, is not clear. “I know cases when a blue or tiger shark swam, but they swam to the shores of the Bosphorus and went back, for them this salinity barrier turned out to be insurmountable,” says Alla Korotkova, keeper of the Sevastopol Aquarium fund. The brownie shark lives at a depth of 200 meters. This species has been studied very little. It is not even known whether it is endangered and whether it is aggressive towards humans.

For Sevastopol oceanologists, it is now a mystery how long the goblin shark lived in the Black Sea. But whether this marine inhabitant was the only representative of its kind in the Sevastopol Bay is unknown. These sharks feed on a variety of organisms that live in deep waters. They eat fish, including other sharks, and can reach a length of 3-4 meters (there may be large sharks of this species, but the longest goblin shark discovered was 3.8 meters in length). They also feed on crustaceans and squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

The goblin has several rows of teeth, some of which are for catching prey while others are for cracking shells of crustaceans. The anterior teeth are long and smoothly edged, while the posterior teeth are adapted for gnawing. Up to 25% of a goblin shark's body weight is its liver. This contributes to the buoyancy of the shark, which, like all sharks, lacks a swim bladder.

These sharks hunt by sensing the presence of prey due to special sensitive organs, their eyesight is poor due to the lack of light at great depths. Once the shark finds its prey, it suddenly sticks out its jaws, using a tongue-like muscle to grab the prey in its sharp front teeth."

Statistics on shark attacks in the Black Sea

There are no confirmed facts about shark attacks on humans in the Black Sea, but as fishermen say, they met a spotted prickly individual.

Rarely were katran attacks on divers, who were themselves to blame. They decided to play with a harmless, as it seemed to them, shark and pull its tail. For which they paid, receiving bites.

Some fishermen who did not follow the rules of caution when fishing for a predator also left traces in the form of scars on their skin.

There are cases when vacationers accidentally stepped into the sea on a shark lying at the bottom. In this case, the shark immediately reacted to the impact, regarding it as an attack.

You can see the Crimean katran (prickly shark) and cat shark in any seaside town of Crimea where there is an Aquarium.