What is the name of the shark in the black sea. Sharks in the Black Sea: are they dangerous to humans? The most common shark in the world

“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. 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 simply “tasteless” to them, and they will also not be able to breed in it: 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!

- August, 3rd 2014

As you know, sharks are one of the most dangerous predators on our planet. Sharks belong to the elasmobranch subclass and are one of the most ancient representatives of the animal world (the most ancient shark-like lived 420-450 million years ago).
To date, there are more than 450 species, the smallest representatives are 17 cm in size, and the largest (for example, tiger sharks) can reach 20 m in length. However, not all representatives of this species are considered dangerous.
The greatest danger to humans is the great white shark, it is she who most often attacks people. Several more species fall into the category of “most dangerous aquatic predators”: tiger shark, bull shark, sand shark, long-winged shark, nurse shark, sharpnose mako shark, gray reef shark, hammerhead shark, blue (or blue) and lemon ( or yellow) shark. The habitat of these species, which is good in itself, does not include the waters of the Black Sea.
Black Sea sharks do not pose a danger to humans. Only two species are found in these waters - this is a katran shark (or long-spined spiny shark) and an ordinary cat shark (or sea dog).






If you have ever rested on the coast of Crimea, you are unlikely to have met them. But fishermen sometimes meet them in deep water. The fact is that near the shore the water is warm enough, so it is not attractive to these sharks.
Most often, in the depths of the Black Sea, you can find a katran shark, which is much more afraid of people than they are of it. Katran lives in cold deep waters and rarely comes ashore (most often in autumn and spring, when the water temperature drops). The maximum katran grows up to 160 cm, but in the Black Sea they reach a maximum of 100 cm. The weight of an adult varies from 7 to 9 kg. They live a little, only 12 years. The very peculiar color of this shark makes it easy to recognize (streamlined shape, the back has a brown-gray color, the sides are spotted, the ventral side is white).
The long-spined spiny shark has a high speed of movement. For a person, it can pose a certain danger, but only for fishermen who carelessly take it with their hands (after all, katrans are of particular interest to commercial fishing). It has spines on its dorsal fins (one on each fin) that can cause serious damage to health.
The cat shark (sea dog) is extremely rare in the waters of the Black Sea. This is a rather small representative of the most dangerous predators of the planet - it reaches a maximum length of 70 cm, sometimes there are individuals up to 100 cm. The weight of an adult individual is about two kilograms. External characteristics: sides and back have a sandy-brown color with dark spots, the ventral side is light gray. Just like the katran, the cat shark is of interest to fisheries.
It can be seen that the sharks of the Black Sea are quite small among all representatives of their own kind. They are completely safe for people, but people, on the contrary, may well harm them if they continue to catch them in large numbers.
Thus, if you are planning to relax on the Black Sea coast, you can safely enjoy your vacation without fear of dangerous predators appearing in the sea - they are not there!

Hi guys!

Contact the Avenger.

On the Internet, for no reason, rumors began to circulate about the possible appearance of white sharks in the Black Sea. I understand that now is the holiday season, the topic of shark attacks is relevant. But...

I became very interested in this topic - can large and dangerous sharks swim in our Black Sea coast?

In addition, recently the entire Internet was full of headlines "Octopuses live in the Black Sea": in Odessa, a rare creature for our region, an octopus, washed ashore.

It was discovered by a local journalist who later wrote on Facebook:

Octopus! As a child, I read the book “Rare Animals of the Black Sea”; there were no octopuses there. There was even a great white shark! It was written that he swims every three years, but there were no octopuses! Since when have they been with us?

Well, after such an event, I was even more drawn to "search" for white sharks in the Black Sea :)

After all, we have been told all this time that it is unrealistic to meet any octopuses and dangerous sharks here ...

But they do meet!

It has long been no secret that white sharks have no obstacles to swim in the Black Sea area. The dispute can only arise in the question - Why would they swim here?

Indeed, why?

I began to look for information about the presence of dangerous sharks in our sea. But all the arguments given by the "experts" come down to some unintelligible conclusions.

... it is difficult for sharks to reach the Black Sea... But isolated cases of entry of large sharks were still recorded. In particular, one hammerhead shark has been recorded near Romania.

The entry of large predators from the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosphorus is quite likely, but they will not swim far from the strait and the Turkish coast - the water is “not tasty” for them.

Small sharks live in the Black Sea, which do not touch people, although they hunt dolphins. Of course, much larger predators from the Mediterranean Sea can enter there, but this happens extremely rarely, since there are not many of them ...

That is, white sharks can still swim to us. But, according to scientists, they do not belong here, they are not expected here, and as a conclusion, there should not be dangerous sharks in the Black Sea. And point!

Here are some excuses.

And if you saw a big shark - just don't believe your eyes :)

I believe that this information may be deliberately hidden. After all, the news about the appearance of dangerous sharks in the Black Sea can seriously undermine the entire tourism business in the region. And the authorities will have to work very hard to avoid panic, and besides, there will be a financial question about measures to protect vacationers from attacks by predators.

Naturally, it is easier to hide information than to fuss and spend money for no one knows what (although, in Primorye, some businessmen made good kickbacks on sharks).

In my post, I will not disclose conspiracies and reproach someone for withholding relevant information. But I just want to speculate about whether it is possible to meet a great white shark in the Black Sea.

So, we begin our investigation into the case of the "White Shark in the Black Sea"

Misconception #1 - White sharks have nowhere to appear here

Here we repeat the following fact like a mantra: there are about 47 species of sharks in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, 16 of them reach 3 meters in length, and 15 species are considered dangerous to humans. Checking the lists, we also find cannibals already familiar to us: large white, tiger, bull, long-winged. Dangerous mako and hammerhead sharks also live here.

In recent years, only lazy people among fishermen do not talk about the active settlement of the Mediterranean Sea by white sharks.

In order not to stretch the post, I will give only a couple of links on the topic. For those who are interested, check it out yourself.

Thus, sharks can get from the oceans to the Black Sea in the only way - from the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosporus.

(there are also rumors that the White Death swims through some kind of underwater sea tunnels)

Here is a map of the region:

And these are the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus:

As you can see, white sharks can easily get into our sea, and there is nothing mystical here.

Misconception #2 - Sharks don't swim because the Black Sea is too cold for them

We were told about this 10 years ago, and they continue to insist now, despite the active global warming, which is already yielding results in the form of an active increase in the average annual temperature of the Black Sea water.

...the main reason why these cannibal sharks are not particularly interested in the Black Sea is the low (for sharks) water temperature.

For example, for white sharks, the optimum water temperature should be at least +18 degrees. The lower the temperature, the less mobile they are.

And I read this in the bourgeoisie. Already closer to reality:

Although white sharks have not been seen before, nevertheless, they may appear in the Black Sea in the near future. The Black Sea water is too cold for sharks (but rises faster every year).

The exceptions are the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and the southern coast of Crimea, protected by mountain ranges from cold winds from the North. A mild Mediterranean climate prevails here.

The temperature in winter almost never drops below 0 degrees, and in summer it is + 23-25 ​​degrees.

Let's look at a map showing the water temperature in the Black Sea in summer:

Almost everywhere the water warms up above 20 degrees.

We open Wikipedia and find out: white sharks live in the open ocean and coastal waters of the continental and island shelves with a temperature of 12-24 degrees, usually closer to the surface of the water, preferring coastal regions of a temperate climate.

The question is - why is the Black Sea too cold for sharks?

In addition, for some reason, everyone suddenly forgot that the white shark belongs to the warm-blooded species of sharks. This means that she is able to raise her body temperature by 10-12 degrees compared to the ambient temperature.

The delusion has been smashed to smithereens.

Misconception No. 3 - The Black Sea is stuffed with hydrogen sulfide, so big sharks will not survive here

Let's figure it out.

A characteristic feature of the Black Sea is the absence of life at depths of more than 150-200 meters due to the saturation of the deep layers of water with hydrogen sulfide.

Due to the fact that the upper layer of water in the sea is weakly mixed with the lower one, oxygen rarely enters the bottom of the sea. And where there is no oxygen, decay begins there. One of the results of decay is the release of hydrogen sulfide.

Measurements showed that in the center of the Black Sea the hydrogen sulfide zone approaches the surface by about 50 meters, closer to the coast the zone depth increases to 300 meters.

That is, "experts", manipulating the facts, lead us to the conclusion: since there is no life at depth, then all sharks will die here.

And what, all our sharks are deep-sea?

Again we go to Wikipedia: white sharks usually live closer to the surface of the water, preferring coastal areas.

There is also an interesting fact: white sharks can be observed mainly near the sea (up to 250 meters deep) bottom or near the surface, but these predators are almost never found in the middle layers.

It turns out that just off the coast of the Black Sea, the probability of meeting a white shark is maximum. This is what our facts say.

Map of the depths of the Black Sea:

And here is information for reflection: the average level of the Black Sea has risen by 12 cm over the past century; this change is masked by strong fluctuations in sea level (up to 20 cm during the year).

However, recent satellite altimetry data have shown a strong acceleration of the Black Sea level rise: up to 20 cm per decade. Many experts attribute this phenomenon to the melting of polar ice as a result of global warming.

It turns out that the comfort zone for white sharks is only increasing here every year!

Misconception No. 4 - the salinity of the Black Sea water is too low for dangerous sharks to swim here

Interestingly, most people still believe that it is impossible to meet sharks in fresh water.
No matter how - white sharks can safely swim in rivers and lakes (we'll talk about this a little later).

It is also worth mentioning the No. 1 killer shark - the bull shark, which can generally live in fresh water. Therefore, it can easily adapt in the waters of the Black Sea, and live here in the summer.

With the analysis of the most common misconceptions finished. Now in plain text.

I agree that most sharks will not take root here, but why is no one seriously considering the version of the temporary entry of dangerous sharks into the Black Sea? Who knows what's on their minds?

And in general, earlier in the Black Sea one could see hammerhead sharks and even fox sharks that swam here straight from the Mediterranean Sea.

Therefore, white sharks can easily swim here. This is especially true for young individuals - the instinct of self-preservation pushes them to stay in shallow water and away from their large counterparts. Many cases have been recorded around the world when inexperienced young animals (sizes under 2-3 meters) attacked people swimming near the shore.

I don’t remember deaths and bitten off limbs on their account, but the “youth” leaves serious injuries.

It is in search of temporary shelter that young white sharks swim in fresh lakes and rivers. This happens especially often in Australia. Including attacks on unsuspecting vacationers.

Well, it’s a sin not to swim in the Black Sea for the kids of the White Death. This is clearly demonstrated by the cases of captures of young predators near the straits between the continents indicated above on the map.

Here is a video of Turkish fishermen capturing a juvenile great white shark near the Dardanelles in July 2011.

Earlier, in 2008 and 2009, fishermen also came across white shark calves in the net here. There is information that great white sharks are sometimes found in the Sea of ​​Marmara, which connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean (through the Aegean).

Haven't you heard about it? Nobody told you about this?

Yes, of course! Who will tell you that white sharks are rushing to popular resorts? All this is hushed up so as not to raise unnecessary panic and scare away tourists.

And the fishermen are ridiculed - they say, drunken tales, seasick, hot sun, earned that sharks seem to be.

I can only agree with the argument that the reasons why large sharks are not interested in the Black Sea waters is not enough full-fledged food supply.

But there are nuances here too.

Firstly, sharks are not psychics, they cannot foresee "weak cuisine".

Secondly, where is it good now? The impoverishment of the food supply has hit all the sharks of the world's oceans. And they will look for options with the least competition, where they can somehow profit.

Thirdly, young white sharks feed mainly on small fish (again, Wikipedia), so they may well stay off the coast of the Black Sea.

Why along the coast?

And let's look at the map of migration routes and spawning of the Black Sea fish resources:

INFORMATION FOR THINKING

Here is interesting information about blue sharks, relatives of whites:

Due to the consequences of global warming, in 10 years, blue sharks will be found in the coastal waters of the Crimea. This was stated by a marine biologist from Kerch Evgeny Gubanov.

The water in the Black and Marmara seas is gradually warming, and blue sharks, in pursuit of food, can swim into them from the Mediterranean.

If warming continues at the same pace as now, in 10 years blue sharks will be found in the coastal waters of the Crimea and the Caucasus.

Theoretically, they are not dangerous, but if they are hungry, they can attack a person.

Gubanov has been studying sharks for 40 years, including working in Sharm el-Sheikh when a series of bloody attacks on tourists off the coast of the Red Sea occurred in 2010.

According to him, the cause of everything is global warming.

Sharks can freely pass through the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Aegean Sea, the Bosphorus Strait, and end up on our shores.

In 2010, in the Bosphorus, near Istanbul, Turkish fishermen caught three great blue sharks. And this is a consequence of global warming, says the oceanographer.

And all this against the background of the fact that the past 2015 was a record year for the number of shark attacks on humans.

I will not describe the case with the huge goblin shark found in the Black Sea. This was talked about a lot on all the news.

It will be important to mention that the prickly shark katran, as well as the cat shark, has been living in the Black Sea for a long time. swims from the mediterranean sea.

Killer shark attacks on people in the Black Sea

On the Internet, I found only one described case of an attack by an unknown monster. By the time of the attack (evening) and the nature of the attack, it is very similar to the white shark.

The murder took place in the resort village of Ordzhonikidze, in Crimea, in August 2011.

According to numerous eyewitnesses, a sea monster attacked a young woman just a few dozen meters from the shore.

The tragedy broke out around 9 pm, when it was getting dark outside, but there were still people on the beach. Two girls decided to swim, swam not far from the shore. Suddenly one of them sank like a stone.

The second managed to grab her friend by the hair and pull her out with a jerk. By some miracle, she did not let the predator drown her prey.

In a state of shock, the girls got out of the water. A large piece of the peritoneum and viscera near the spleen was torn out of the victim's body.

The victim (a tourist from Kharkov) was taken unconscious to the first city hospital in Feodosia. A few hours later, the girl died from serious injuries.

The attack was attributed to the mythical Karadag snake monster that lives in the Black Sea!

It is understandable, stories with a snake will only contribute to the influx of tourists, while any information about large sharks will seriously harm this.

Well, that's the end of our little investigation. As we have found out, you should not take vacations on any, even on the Black Sea, lightly and ignore safety information. Shark attacks in Primorye on people with severed limbs are a vivid confirmation of this.

Forewarned is forearmed!

Moreover, it is not known what to expect from the climate and sharks in the next decade.

I hope the information from this post was not only interesting for you, but also interested you in sharks. After all, sharks are the most dangerous and most ancient predators on our planet!

It remains only to sort out the question: where in the Black Sea is the probability of meeting a white shark the highest?

And let's once again look at all the cards that I laid out above, and remember all the information in the article.

Therefore, if white sharks begin to appear more actively in the Black Sea, then the first thing they will do is visit the coasts where:

The highest temperature;
- small depth;
- availability of fish resources;
- gatherings of people.

The following risk zones most of all correspond to these conditions: the southern part of the Crimea and the western shores of the Krasnodar Territory, where the most famous Russian resorts are located.

If you want to discuss the topic of this post - comments below. I will study your arguments with interest. But I'm just asking you to state the facts.

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 predators.