THE GREAT HUNTER One One of the world’s mightiest predators is on the move It tracks its prey through ocean waters The shark has strong hunting skills This large fish smells hears and senses its prey in the water The shark closes in It strikes Rows of sharp teeth rip into a sea lion A great white shark jumps out of the water with its prey 5 CHAPTER 1
There are more than 500 species of sharks Different species eat different types of prey Several shark species are top predators This means other animals do not hunt them Sharks play an important role in many ocean food chains One example of a food chain starts with single-celled life-forms These life-forms are eaten by shrimp-like animals called krill The krill are then eaten by small fish And the small fish are eaten by sea lions The sea lions in turn become shark prey Ecosystems have many different food chains Together the food chains in an ecosystem form a food web Sharks are 6
at the top of many ocean food webs They help ocean ecosystems stay in balance FISH FOOD A food chain of the great white shark phytoplankton single-celled life-forms krill small fish great white shark sea lion 7
