--- title: "Sharks & Rays (Chondrichthyes) | Evolutionary Clade | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Flexible cartilage skeletons, conveyor-belt replacement teeth, and electrical sensing pore networks. Explore 18 species in the Sharks & Rays evolutionary lineage." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" --- # Sharks & Rays (*Chondrichthyes*) > Flexible cartilage skeletons, conveyor-belt replacement teeth, and electrical sensing pore networks. Older than trees and surviving four mass extinctions, cartilaginous fishes replaced heavy bone with lightweight flexible cartilage. They detect the heartbeat of buried prey through ampullae of Lorenzini electroreceptors and glide through water with tooth-like dermal denticles. ## Key Evolutionary Adaptations - Ampullae of Lorenzini pores detect electrical fields down to five billionths of a volt per centimeter. - Teeth sit on fibrous conveyor-belt bands, shedding and replacing thousands of worn blades across a lifetime. - Placoid scales (dermal denticles) channel water along micro-grooves to eliminate boundary-layer turbulence. ## Member Species (18 Creatures) - [Australasian Ghost Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/australasian-ghost-shark/) (*Harriotta avia*) - **Superpower**: Cartilaginous electro-receptive rostrum and massive mineralized tooth plates - **Musical Match**: Bohren & der Club of Gore (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes) - [Basking Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/basking-shark/) (*Cetorhinus maximus*) - **Superpower**: Enormous Filter-Feeding Mouth & Up to 2,000 Tons of Water an Hour - **Musical Match**: Steel Pulse (Roots Reggae & Heavy Dub) - [Bull Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bull-shark/) (*Carcharhinus leucas*) - **Superpower**: Blood chemistry that shifts with the water: bull sharks caught in freshwater carried about half the blood urea of those caught at sea. - **Musical Match**: IDLES (Hardcore Punk & Post-Hardcore) - [Cookiecutter Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/cookiecutter-shark/) (*Isistius brasiliensis*) - **Superpower**: A glowing underside that lures big animals in, then a spin that carves out a cookie-shaped plug - **Musical Match**: Dead Or Alive (80s Pop & Dance Anthem) - [Frilled Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-shark/) (*Chlamydoselachus anguineus*) - **Superpower**: Six frilly gill slits, tricuspid teeth, and a lineage estimated at 82 million years old. - **Musical Match**: Bring Me The Horizon (Modern Alt-Metal & Post-Hardcore) - [Giant Freshwater Stingray](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-freshwater-stingray/) (*Urogymnus polylepis*) - **Superpower**: 2.2-meter disc width, a 300-kilogram record catch, and a long, barbed tail spine - **Musical Match**: Massive Attack (Trip-Hop & Velvet Downtempo) - [Giant Oceanic Manta Ray](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-manta-ray/) (*Mobula birostris*) - **Superpower**: Two cephalic lobes help channel water into its mouth, making manta rays the only vertebrates with three paired appendages. - **Musical Match**: Stephan Bodzin (Melodic House & Techno) - [Goblin Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/goblin-shark/) (*Mitsukurina owstoni*) - **Superpower**: Catapulting slingshot feeding mechanism that launches its jaws at up to 3.1 meters per second - **Musical Match**: Lustmord (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes) - [Great Hammerhead Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-hammerhead/) (*Sphyrna mokarran*) - **Superpower**: Ampullae of Lorenzini, gel-filled pores under its head that sense the electrical signals of prey, even prey buried in sand. - **Musical Match**: Bicep (Future Garage & Deep Electronica) - [Great Torpedo Ray](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/torpedo-ray/) (*Tetronarce nobiliana*) - **Superpower**: Twin kidney-shaped electric organs that fire 170 to 220 volts, enough to stun or kill a fish and, from a large adult, to disable a person. - **Musical Match**: The Prodigy (Big Beat & 90s Acid Techno) - [Great White Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-white-shark/) (*Carcharodon carcharias*) - **Superpower**: Ampullae of Lorenzini that detect electrical signals as faint as 0.005 microvolts, paired with regional endothermy that keeps key parts of its body warmer than the surrounding ocean. - **Musical Match**: Arch Enemy (Thrash Metal & Speed Metal) - [Greenland Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/greenland-shark/) (*Somniosus microcephalus*) - **Superpower**: It grows less than a centimeter a year, females aren't sexually mature until at least 156 years old, give or take 22, and its lifespan runs to at least 272 years, the longest of any known vertebrate. - **Musical Match**: Kali Malone (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes) - [Megamouth Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/megamouth-shark/) (*Megachasma pelagios*) - **Superpower**: Thought to cruise through krill swarms and suck prey in by pushing its jaws forward - **Musical Match**: Mazzy Star (Dream Pop & Shoegaze) - [Scalloped Hammerhead](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/scalloped-hammerhead/) (*Sphyrna lewini*) - **Superpower**: A wide, notched head with electroreceptors on its underside. It appears to sense a weak electric field no better than a sandbar shark does, but seems to give a wider search area and sharp turns at high speed. - **Musical Match**: LTJ Bukem (Drum & Bass / Spatial Jungle) - [Shortfin Mako Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/shortfin-mako-shark/) (*Isurus oxyrinchus*) - **Superpower**: Bursts up to 70 km/h and keeps swimming muscles warmer than the surrounding sea - **Musical Match**: Charli xcx (2020s Pop & Modern Alt) - [Southern Stingray](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/southern-stingray/) (*Hypanus americanus*) - **Superpower**: Thousands of electrical sensors on its underside detect the electric field of prey buried in the sand - **Musical Match**: Suzanne Ciani (Krautrock & Electronic Pioneers) - [Tiger Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tiger-shark/) (*Galeocerdo cuvier*) - **Superpower**: Deeply notched, serrated teeth that, with a saw-like shake of the head, tear chunks from much larger animals and can pierce sea turtle shells - **Musical Match**: Ministry (Industrial Rock & Cyberpunk) - [Whale Shark](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/whale-shark/) (*Rhincodon typus*) - **Superpower**: Dermal denticles that armor its eyeballs, and 20 filter pads that strain more than 600,000 liters of seawater an hour in a 6-meter shark, by one estimate. - **Musical Match**: Beach House (Dream Pop & Shoegaze) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/clades/sharks-rays/#collection", "name": "Sharks & Rays (Chondrichthyes)", "description": "Flexible cartilage skeletons, conveyor-belt replacement teeth, and electrical sensing pore networks.", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/clades/sharks-rays/", "mainEntity": { "@type": "ItemList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Australasian Ghost Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/australasian-ghost-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Basking Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/basking-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bull Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/bull-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Cookiecutter Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/cookiecutter-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Frilled Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/frilled-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "Giant Freshwater Stingray", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-freshwater-stingray/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "Giant Oceanic Manta Ray", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-manta-ray/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "Goblin Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/goblin-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "name": "Great Hammerhead Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-hammerhead/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "name": "Great Torpedo Ray", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/torpedo-ray/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "name": "Great White Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/great-white-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "name": "Greenland Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/greenland-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "name": "Megamouth Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/megamouth-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "name": "Scalloped Hammerhead", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/scalloped-hammerhead/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "name": "Shortfin Mako Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/shortfin-mako-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "name": "Southern Stingray", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/southern-stingray/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "name": "Tiger Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/tiger-shark/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 18, "name": "Whale Shark", "url": "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/whale-shark/" } ] } } ] } ```