Every other fish I can think of has bones but sharks do not. Why is this?
In: Biology
Sharks do have a skeleton much the same as other fish, but most of it is cartilage like your ears and nose. This isn’t unique to just sharks, there’s a whole family of “cartilaginous” fish that includes sharks and rays and a few other oddballs.
Since this tissue isn’t as hard and durable as your bones, it tends to decay/get eaten too and most sharks don’t leave any bones behind except their teeth.
Their “bones” do get tougher and more calcified as they get older so the big ones can leave some skeletal remains when they die.
Now why exactly did they evolve this way? Hard to say. They split off from other fish a *long* time ago way before dinosaurs were even a thought. Their ancestors used cartilage to armor themselves too, but that has disappeared over the millennia in favor of speed and efficiency to chase more nimble prey.
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