Shark Week In Southern Maryland: 23 Facts From Glowing Sharks To 30,000 Teeth

SOLOMONS, Md. — Sharks were swimming through the world’s oceans long before dinosaurs appeared, and some may live for hundreds of years.

Those were among the facts visitors could learn during Sharkfest at Calvert Marine Museum on July 11. Displays throughout the museum explored shark anatomy, senses, speed, strength, survival and conservation.

This year was even more special — Maryland made history when the state named the extinct megalodon its official state shark, the first such designation in the nation, citing how common megalodon fossils are across the Chesapeake Bay region, including Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.

The designation, passed as part of Senate Bill 35 during the 2026 legislative session and signed by Gov. Wes Moore, takes effect Oct. 1, 2026. Calvert Cliffs, just up the shoreline from the museum, remains one of the top sites in the country for finding megalodon teeth, and the Calvert Marine Museum holds more than 100,00 fossilized specimens as Maryland’s State Paleontology Center.

With Shark Week running Sunday, July 26, through Saturday, Aug. 1, here are facts gathered during Sharkfest to help readers dive into the week.

Sharks Were Here Before Dinosaurs

• Sharks were on Earth about 200 million years before dinosaurs.
• Sharks have survived five mass extinction events.
• Greenland sharks are estimated to live between 300 and 500 years.

Sharks first appeared roughly 450 million years ago, meaning they predate not just dinosaurs but trees, according to the Natural History Museum. Each mass extinction wiped out the majority of life on Earth at the time, yet shark lineages kept adapting and surviving into the modern era.

Sharks Are Built Differently

• Shark skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone.
• One shark may lose up to 30,000 teeth during its lifetime — nearly three teeth a day over 30 years.
• New teeth are constantly forming inside a shark’s jaw.
• Sharks have a sixth sense that helps them detect prey.
• Most sharks have great eyesight. They can see colors and can see in dimly lit areas.
• Sharks have a special eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, that helps protect their eyes when they are feeding.
• Female sharks are generally larger than male sharks.
• Not all sharks need to move in order to breathe.
• Some sharks enter a temporary state of paralysis, known as tonic immobility, when flipped upside down. Scientists use the condition to conduct studies, and orcas have used it to prey on sharks and stingrays.

The “sixth sense” referenced on the Sharkfest display is electroreception, made possible by organs called the ampullae of Lorenzini, according to PBS. These jelly-filled pores, concentrated around a shark’s snout, can detect the faint electrical signals given off by another animal’s muscle contractions, letting a shark sense prey it cannot see or that is hidden beneath sand.

Sharks Have Speed And Power

• Sharks can generate as much as 1.8 tons of biting force, while a lion produces about 1,235 pounds.
• The shortfin mako is the fastest shark. The Greenland shark is the slowest.

A 2008 biomechanical study led by paleontologist Stephen Wroe found that the largest great white sharks can generate roughly 2 tons of bite force — more than three times that of an African lion. Researchers noted the extinct megalodon, a relative found in fossil form throughout Calvert County, likely bit six to 10 times harder still.

Some Shark Species Are Full Of Surprises

• Hammerhead sharks can see nearly 360 degrees around them.
• A 9-foot bull shark can swim in just 2 feet of water.
• Bull sharks have been found 2,220 miles from a saltwater source.
• The megamouth shark was not discovered until 1976. Only around 14 have ever been seen.
• The American pocket shark, discovered in 2019, squirts a luminous, glowing fluid from pockets near its front fins.
• A whale shark’s spot pattern is as distinctive as a human fingerprint.

The whale shark fact has a fun story. Researchers with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center helped adapt a star-mapping algorithm, originally built to identify patterns in the night sky, into a tool that matches individual whale sharks by their spot patterns. The technology now helps scientists track and protect the species without ever having to tag one.

Sharks Have Swallowed Some Strange Things

• Sharks have been found with odd things in their stomachs: license plates, chairs, a box of nails, a torpedo, a polar bear, a full suit of armor, a cannonball, a full-sized dolphin and bottles of wine.

Sharks Help Keep Oceans Healthy

• Sharks act as scavengers, feeding on dead animals. Without them in the food web, the oceans would be a much smellier place.
• Out of the 500 known shark species, about 25% are considered endangered, threatened or near threatened.

Sharks sit near the top of the ocean food web, and their decline can trigger ripple effects throughout marine ecosystems, according to NOAA Fisheries. Slow growth rates, late sexual maturity and small litters make many shark species especially vulnerable to overfishing, which remains the leading threat to shark populations worldwide.

Learn More At Calvert Marine Museum

The facts were gathered from educational displays posted during Calvert Marine Museum’s Sharkfest on July 11.

Calvert Marine Museum is located at 14200 Solomons Island Road in Solomons. Learn more about the museum, its paleontology exhibits and upcoming programs at calvertmarinemuseum.com.

---