Today’s feature: the Blue Shark 🦈 personally they are my favourite shark species 💙 read more about them here: • They are so named because of the deep indigo coloring on their backs and vibrant blue shades on the sides of their bodies. • A migratory breed, blue sharks are found all over the world, except the polar circle. They prefer deeper, colder waters of about 1,300 feet and 50-68F. • Blue sharks have a slim, torpedo shaped body and are graceful swimmers. They reach up to 13 feet in length and can weigh up to 450 pounds. • They hunt by detecting electromagnetic pulses, as do all sharks, and can sense a heart beating from miles away. • Their favorite food is squid but they also eat shrimp, lobster, sea birds, and smaller sharks. • Socially, blue sharks school together, but they segregate their groups based on gender and size. Males and females school separately, and each group has their own pecking order of dominant and submissive members. • Females of the breed are necessarily thick skinned. This is because male sharks tend to bite during mating, in what can be quite a violent process. Baby blues are born live and one litter can contain from 20 to 100 pups! • They have no natural predators, other than man, yet upwards of 10 million are killed each year by commercial fishing operations. Blue sharks do not do well in captivity, surviving for an average of no longer than six months. They are currently listed as “near threatened” on the IUCN Redlist. • Blue sharks are generally not aggressive to humans but will attack if threatened. In the video below, divers swim with blue sharks in the waters off Cape Town, and the sharks make nothing more than a few exploratory and non-threatening bumps. This is not a shark the average beachgoer will ever encounter in their lifetime. • • • • #bluesharks #blues #sharkart #sharks #sharklove #kdekany #art #marinewildlife #marineart #blogger #illustration #pencilillustration #kdekany #fabercastell #polychromos #pisces #sharkweekeveryweek #sharkweek #photographer #artblogger #winsornewton #artist #art #artistoninstagram #instaart #instaphoto #instaartist #artshelp https://www.instagram.com/p/CDyga-GBTiZ/?igshid=1kc0iundzjrq8