What Sharks Eat from HowStuffWorks

What do most sharks eat?
There are nearly 400 shark species swimming in oceans around the world, so the concept of answering this question in a single article is, well, impossible. Each shark has its own individual food habits and eating styles. There are, however, some consistencies between shark types. The most obvious: All sharks are at least partly carnivorous. But each type of shark has a different hunting habit, and this helps perpetuate a survival of the fittest mode in their particular environment. What’s on the menu is a whole different story.

What is filter feeding?
Have you ever felt so lazy that you wished you could just open your mouth and be fed? No cooking. No dishes. Just open your mouth to receive a slice of pizza or a spoonful of ice cream? No judgment -- we've felt the same thing, too. While filter feeding isn’t exactly like that, it is one of the oldest forms of “lazy” eating. Sharks have been doing it for about 30 to 60 million years, scientists say. Other filter feeders range from small sea sponges to baleen whales. Read more about this underwater eating style.

What causes a shark feeding frenzy?
The term "feeding frenzy" has been used to describe everything from brides-to-be at a designer wedding dress sale to journalists hungry for a scandalous story. But when it comes to sharks, the scene can be deadly. In short, a shark feeding frenzy occurs when a number of sharks battle for the same prey. Some accounts of the chaos even suggest shark cannibalism. But what causes these frenzies? Could one happen at any moment? What causes sharks to get so crazed? And why can't they just share?

What's a shark’s "yummy hum"?
Remember when you were in school and you knew that fourth period was almost over by the sound of your growling stomach? Like Pavlovian clockwork, the rumbles in your tummy might have preceded the lunchtime bell. According to HowStuffWorks.com writer Josh Clark, sharks may have a similar conditioned response when it comes to dinner time. It’s a phenomenon known as the “yummy hum” -- a low-frequency sound of about 40 hertz emitted by dying fish – and a sound to which sharks are allegedly attracted. Clark writes, “Homing in on this yummy hum helps them to locate an injured fish -- guaranteed weak prey.” But is the yummy hum real or myth?

Are dogs a shark's favorite meal?
Because we live in different habitats, sharks haven't really developed a taste for humans. But would your dog serve as an appetizing snack for a shark? Shark attacks on dogs have certainly been reported. In January 2008, a Pomeranian named Rex was believed to be attacked by a bull shark in Australia’s Bremer River. The notion that sharks eat dogs was also spread by the British tabloid The Sun in 2005, when it reported that dogs were being used as live bait in the French territory of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. So how realistic is it that your beach-bound pooch might be eaten by Jaws?