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You are here: Home / Science / How Sensitive Is a Shark’s Sense Of Smell and Can a Shark Smell Blood From Far Away In the Water?

How Sensitive Is a Shark’s Sense Of Smell and Can a Shark Smell Blood From Far Away In the Water?

February 13, 2020 by Karen Hill

Sharks can definitely smell blood from quite a distance.

Sharks have an extremely sensitive sense of smell for food in the water. A few molecules can be enough to draw a shark.

A shark has nostrils, called nares, connected to olfactory bulbs that go back to the brain.

Just by studying the brain, scientists concluded that the shark was heavily dependent on olfaction, with 70 percent of a relatively small brain, by weight and volume, devoted to smell.

There is a difference between the sense of smell and the sense of taste, although the molecules being sensed are very similar.

The organs doing the sensing stimulate different hormonal and physiological chains of response, generating very different kinds of behavior.

Smell can trigger emotional or behavioral responses ranging from sexual behavior to searching for food, whereas the reaction to taste is simply to accept or reject the food.

In fact, there is strong evidence that most shark attacks on people are cases of mistaken identity or reflex action.

Many such attacks occur where visibility is low, at night or in turbid water.

The smell of blood might stimulate a shark to try to feed on a person it mistakes for a turtle or sea lion, but the taste of neoprene rubber or suntan oil might lead to rejection.

Many more people are attacked by sharks than are eaten by sharks. But who wants to be tasted?

Related Facts

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  • Who Discovered Blood Plasma and How does separating red blood cells and plasma extended the shelf life?
  • How is a Shark’s Skeleton Different from Other Fish and What is its Skeleton Made of?
  • How Did Sharks Get Their Name and How Are They Different From Mammals Like Whales and Dolphins?
  • How Good is a Polar Bear’s Sense of Smell and How Does it Use its Sense of Smell to Hunt Seals?
  • How did the Nurse Shark get its Name, Where does it Live, and How Big do they Get?

Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Do Fish Have Blood and Hearts, What Color Is Fish Blood, and Why Don’t Fish In Stores Have Blood?
Next Post: What Do Bats Eat, What Should We Do If a Bat Flies In the House, and Are Bat Dangerous To Humans? »

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