How Do Sharks and Rays Use Electricity to Find Hidden Prey?
From Deep Look
4 min4th5th6thScience
Summary
Sharks and rays have a sixth sense — they detect the faint electricity given off by living things. Deep Look shows the tiny jelly-filled pores that let a shark find a fish buried in the sand.
Viewer safety
Ages 7+Mild peril
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Every living animal gives off a tiny electric signal. Sharks and rays have special pores that sense that electricity, letting them find hidden prey they can't see, smell, or hear.
- What special sense do sharks and rays have that humans don't?
- How does this sense help them find prey hidden in the sand?
- Why would having an extra sense make an animal a better hunter?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: electricity, pore, sense, prey.
Try it: List the five senses you use, then add the shark's electric sense. Write one job it does that your senses can't.