The Tiger Shark is among the most fearsome sharks on earth that have been implicated in many attacks on humans. In fact it is #2 on the top 5 most dangerous list. These sharks can grow up to 20 feet long, making them the second only to the Great White Shark of the large dangerous sharks.
How Big Are Tiger Sharks?
While they have a maximum size of 20 feet (up to 2,000 pounds), the average size of an adult tiger shark is about 14 feet and weigh about 1,200 pounds, like the one seen in the picture below.
Image Courtesy of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program Wikimedia Commons
Where Do Tiger Sharks Live?
Tiger sharks are found in most tropical and sub tropical waters. The map below shows the areas where tiger sharks can be found.
By User:Walterince, original work by User:Chris_huh [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
Where Do Tiger Sharks Get Their Name From
Tiger sharks get their name from the black stripes on their back. These black stripes can easily be seen in the picture below:
What Do Tiger Sharks Eat?
Tiger sharks are known as the “garbage cans of the ocean” because all kinds of things have been found in their stomachs. Things such as metal license plates and even an armour suit have been found in the bellies of tiger sharks. It’s true, they eat just about anything: fish, other sharks, sea turtles, birds etc. They have an incredible bit force capable of cracking the shells of sea turtles! Check out this picture of the Tiger shark’s teeth:
Image courtesy of Stefan Kühn Wikimedia Commons
When a tiger shark bites its prey, they shake their head from side in a sawing motion. The teeth at like a saw, cutting through flesh and bone.
Where Is the Best Place to See Tiger Sharks?
If you’re a scuba diver, the best place on earth to see these sharks is at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas. Each year, hundreds of people visit this location for close-up encounters with Tiger Sharks.
Tiger Shark Pictures
Here are some tiger shark pictures with captions below:
A tiger shark with some sort of fin tag at Tiger Beach off Grand Bahama Island.
A Tiger Shark coming at me head on at Tiger Beach off of Grand Bahama Island.
Tiger Beach is pretty shallow (15 feet deep), so you can stay down for over an hour on 1 scuba tank. In this picture, a remora fish swims in front of a tiger shark.
A tiger shark approaches some bait at Tiger Beach.
Feeding Frenzy! A tiger shark and some Caribbean reef sharks attack a frozen “chum sickle.”
Absolutely incredible! A tiger shark chomping on frozen bait. It’s absolutely amazing how powerful tiger sharks are.
This tiger shark is absolutely massive. I think it’s a pregnant female. Definitely a solid 14 footer (if not more).
Tiger sharks are some of the most beautiful creatures on our planet. While they can be dangerous, more often than not they just go about their business doing what sharks do. Anyone who’s ever gone diving with sharks will tell you that the experience changed their perceptions about sharks. All the fear and hype about sharks is blown way out of proportion. They are not monsters of the deep that sit and wait for us to go swimming!
As an example of how ridiculous our views about sharks are, consider this fact. So far this summer (2018), there has been more bear attacks on hikers and campers than there have shark attacks on swimmers. So are you scared to go for a walk in the forest? Is Discovery Channel going to start featuring “Bear Week”!!!
Sharks are apex predators…just like bears and lions and tigers. We need to respect them and protect them!
Thanks for reading Tiger Shark Information and Pictures.
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