{"id":4943,"date":"2018-04-04T11:36:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T09:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/shark\/our-distant-cousins-how-much-do-we-have-in-common-with-sharks\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T13:32:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:32:31","slug":"our-distant-cousins-how-much-do-we-have-in-common-with-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/blog\/our-distant-cousins-how-much-do-we-have-in-common-with-sharks\/","title":{"rendered":"Distant Cousins: How Much Do We Have in Common with Sharks?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We may not have been portrayed as the best of friends in the movies but we\u2019re actually more closely linked to sharks than you may think. Over 450 million years ago, humans and sharks shared a common ancestor \u2013 making us distant cousins. <\/span>
\nIt\u2019s All Relative<\/b>
\nIt\u2019s not just history linking us together, it\u2019s DNA too. At least one shark species carries several genes that are almost identical to those found in humans. Researchers have identified that 154 genes in humans have comparable matches in elephant sharks, mice, and dogs.<\/span>
\nAround 60% of shark species are viviparous, which means that fertilisation occurs internally and mothers give birth to live young \u2013 just like humans and other mammals. With this in mind, it is no surprise that sharks and humans share some of the same DNA. <\/span>
\nSharks have all four types of white blood cells that are found in humans. This links the immune systems of sharks very closely to the immune systems of humans. The proteins in a shark\u2019s DNA work in a similar way to the proteins within human DNA \u2013 helping the metabolism work in an effective way. <\/span>
\nIt\u2019s All Personal<\/b>
\nYou\u2019ve seen the difference between Bruce from Finding Nemo and Lenny from Shark Tale, and guess what? It\u2019s true \u2013 sharks do have different personalities, just like people do. Each shark should be seen as an individual, rather than as a species as a whole. <\/span>
\nResearchers have found various sharks to behave in different ways when faced with the same situation. This goes to show that although they may all have a fearsome reputation, they actually have different personalities. As the saying goes: \u201cdon\u2019t judge a shark by its fin\u201d. <\/span>
\nIt\u2019s All In Your Head<\/b>
\nIn terms of body structure, it\u2019s pretty obvious that we don\u2019t hold much in common with sharks \u2013 unless you have a few fins you haven\u2019t told us about?<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s actually our heads and the structure of our skulls that hold similarities with sharks. Both humans and sharks have extremely strong skulls to protect the brain. The build of the skull allows both species to have eye sockets and jaw lines. <\/span>
\nBeyond eye sockets, we have even more in common with sharks when it comes to vision. Did you know that sharks have almost the exact same eyes as we do? They have duplex retinas that contain both rod and cone cells. Although sharks use their electrosensory techniques to track prey, their eyesight shouldn\u2019t be underestimated. <\/span>
\nIt\u2019s All Connected<\/b>
\nWhether a species lives on land or breathes underwater, there is always a viable link connecting them to one another. The power of evolution, historical creature connections, and progressive research helps to teach us that even the unlikely relatives of sharks and humans have something in common!<\/span>
\nGet a closer look at our distant cousins with a jawsome <\/span>shark-diving experience<\/span><\/a> and see for yourself just how much we have in common with these underwater giants. What are you waiting for? <\/span>You\u2019ll have a fintastic time with the whole family!<\/span><\/a>
\nDon\u2019t forget to follow us on <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a> to keep updated with more fascinating creature facts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We may not have been portrayed as the best of friends in the movies but we\u2019re actually more closely linked to sharks than you may think. Over 450 million years ago, humans and sharks shared a common ancestor \u2013 making us distant cousins. It\u2019s All Relative It\u2019s not just history linking us together, it\u2019s DNA … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shark"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4943"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4272145842,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4943\/revisions\/4272145842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neuronicdev.es\/deep-sea-world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}