All animals eat differently. Cheetahs chase down their prey at 60 miles an hour, while giraffes munch away with their heads way up in the air. We know of six strategies employed by animals to catch their food, and like the difference between a house cat and a cheetah, they can range widely. One kind of shark can also use multiple of these strategies at once. The strategies they use are speculation, ambushing, stalking, luring, opportunism, and aggregation.
Which strategies sharks use are decided by the sharks size, camouflage, environment and what they are trying to catch. The first strategy used is speculation. If you’ve seen the TikTok trend of the sound of sharks patrolling the reef, they are referring to this strategy. Speculation is when a shark patrols the area where they know their prey likes to hang out. So they might not even know that the food they want is there, but they have seen it there before or heard about it from their friends.
The second kind is ambushing. A lot of flat sharks, or angel sharks, use this strategy. These sharks hide using their camouflage, often in rocks or sometimes sea grass and then when a fish swims by they lunge out at it, like a frog catching a fly. One type of shark that uses this strategy is the swell shark, which sucks in its prey while it is going by.
Next is stalking. When stalking, the shark follows its prey, and then attacks when it feels best. This strategy is used by great white sharks, which follow their prey for up to eight miles! Sometimes sharks follow their prey just to wait until it gets tired so they don’t have to work as hard, and to avoid getting injured themselves. They would rather swim miles than have a big fight with the fish they are hunting. Fourth is luring. Luring uses an aspect of the shark that attracts the fish, and then when the fish gets close enough it can lunge and eat it. For example if you’ve ever seen a picture of a lanternfish, with its light above its head. Fish, like bugs, are attracted to the light, and then the lanternfish can snatch it and gobble it up. Some sharks have special features for the same reason, like an Australian wobbegong shark. These sharks are small, only growing up to four feet. They blend in well with rocks and have little whisker-like things that come off of their snouts. These whiskers are meant to be like kelp, and they sway in the current to imitate kelp-like movements as well. Fish go to the kelp, expecting to find shelter, and instead find themselves as the wobbegong’s dinner.
Our next strategy is opportunism. These are the sharks that are like goats. Goats eat anything and everything they come across, even if it isn’t very good for them. Some sharks are the same way. They swim along and eat, and don’t pay much attention to what is going into their mouths. The tiger shark is a good example of opportunism. In studies of their stomachs , scientists have found fish, car license plates, food wrappers, glass bottles and more.
Lastly, there is aggregation, which is when many sharks work together to “herd” fish. If you’ve seen pictures of huge schools of fish, with sharks weaving in and out, then you’ve seen aggregation.