10 Most Dangerous Sharks

What are the 10 most dangerous sharks?

First, it is important to point out that, while a shark occasionally injures or kills a person, this is an extremely rare occurrence, especially considering the millions of people who wade or swim in the world’s oceans each year. According to statistics collected by the International Shark Attack File, far fewer than 100 people worldwide are bitten by sharks each year, and only a handful of these attacks prove fatal.

Scientists also tell us that sharks rarely target people as prey and that when a shark does injure a human, it is often because it has mistaken that person for a seal, a sea lion or one of its usual prey animals. Almost all shark species in our oceans are dwindling, and they are more in need of protection from us than we are from them. That said, it is also true that some species of shark are more prone to attacking humans than others, and the question, “what are the 10 most dangerous sharks?” is a legitimate one.

Well over half of all lethal attacks on humans over the centuries have come from just three species of sharks: the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) and the bull shark (Carcharinus leucas). Of these “Big Three” species, the largest of them, the great white shark, (pictured at left) is by far the most dangerous, as it has been responsible for more unprovoked attacks and deaths than the other two species put together. The great white occupies the top slot on the list of ten most dangerous sharks, with the tiger shark coming in a distant second.

The remaining seven species on the 10 most dangerous sharks list, in order of their recorded number of unprovoked lethal and non-lethal attacks over the centuries are:

4. The requiem shark (Carcharhinus spp.*)
5. The sand tiger shark (Carcharias tauruss)
6. The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus)
7. The narrowtooth shark (Carcharhinus brachyurus)
8. The hammerhead shark (Sphyma spp.*)
9. The spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna)
10. The blue shark (Carcharhinus glauca)