The question is - how long could a shark live out of water - ie before
it died because it can't breath in air?

Take a big great white shark as the example if you need to be specific
(though I won't insist on that).

thanks - Delard

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Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 13 May 2005 07:54 PDT

Dear delard-ga,

Looks like the answer may be ?it depends?. Sharks have adapted to the
environment they live in. I could not find any information on the
white shark, but these two members of the shark family live in shallow
water and are often left high and dry so they have adapted to survive
out of water for short periods.

?Epaulette shark
Hemiscyllium ocellatum
The Epaulette Shark is a slender species that has a large black
ocellus (eye-like spot with a marginal ring) above the pectoral fin
and widely spaced black spots on the body.
Interesting fact: Common in shallow water on coral reefs, Epaulette
sharks can survive out of water for a few hours. A non-dangerous
species.?
http://www.seaworld.com.au/sharkbay/sharkbay_details.cfm?sharkbay_id=7
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/hocell.htm

	
?Brownbanded bambooshark 
Chiloscyllium punctatum
Can survive out of water for as long as half a day (such as when
tidepools run out of water).?
http://www.shark.ch/cgi-bin/Sharks/spec_conv.pl?E+Chiloscyllium.punctatum
http://www.fao.org/figis/servlet/species?fid=11345


Would this be acceptable as an answer? Or do specifically require a white shark?
answerfinder-ga

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Clarification of Question by delard-ga on 13 May 2005 09:05 PDT

Hi,

I don't specifically need the answer for a great white shark - but I
need it for a normal shark - not a special type of shark that survives
for ages. Specifying the great white shark was just a way of saying
its a normal type of shark.

However the info on the special sharks is also interesting - so I'm
not going to be too fussy about the answer :). ie post what you can as
an answer and I'll be happy for $5.

Dear delard-ga,
Thank you for your clarification. In addition to the above, I also
found these which may be of interest.

This page describes Shark tagging and the advice is when they are out
of the water ?The procedure should never take longer than 4 minutes.?
http://www.pelagic.org/research/BLU_methods.html

This is from the story of a shark?s life,
?While the cartilage enhances a shark's swimming ability and makes it
more edible, it offers little support for the shark's internal organs
out of water. Just a few minutes out of water will give the shark a
fatal injury.?
http://www.beach-net.com/Sharklife.html

On this Zoology site is a similar question to yours.
This is part of the answer,
?Without a stream of water over the gills, the shark slowly
suffocates; just like you would if you held your breath. Shark
researchers often pull sharks up out of the water to tag them and to
take quick samples. However, the ship's sea water pump is used to keep
a stream of fresh water flowing over the shark and its gill membranes
and stress is minimised. I suppose that a large, healthy shark would
last slightly longer out of the water than a small, sick shark; but
there are many variables (ie. how much thrashing around it is doing;
and therefore consuming valuable oxygen).?
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/nov2000/973208786.Zo.r.html

You may also find this site of general interest on the subject of shraks.
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/sharks.htm
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/Whiteshark/whiteshark.html


I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder


Search strategy
Variations of shark(s) survive live ?out of water?