Sharks and dogfish (which are actually small sharks) belong to the same class of fish as skates and rays. There are about 250 kinds of sharks. One of the most dangerous is the great white shark, often called the "maneater." The largest of these ever caught was 36.5 feet long. It was caught off the coast of Australia. Great white sharks normally roam the open seas and do not go close to shore very often. They usually live in tropical or temperate waters, but have been seen as far north as the state of Washington in the Pacific Ocean and just south of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean. They will taste anything that looks like food, including people, and have been known to swallow a 100-pound sea lion whole, a Newfoundland dog, and other sharks 6 or 7 feet long.

Blacktip Reef Shark
photo by Dean McInnis,
A Medical Guide to Hazardous Marine Life, p. 9