Macquarie Dictionary

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Take a bite out of Shark Week

It’s Shark Week! In honour of these mysterious, ancient predators, we have six shark-related words for you to get your teeth into. 

A cookie-cutter shark is a small shark with a cigar shaped body that uses it lips to attach to its prey. The goblin shark suits its name well. Considered a living fossil, this rare shark lives in deep water, using its distinctive flat snout to detect electromagnetic fields created by crabs, squid and other prey. 

Man-eater is a name given to the great white shark, while Joan of Arc is a slang word for shark. Puppy is the name for a young shark and not just your adorable puppy dog. Selachophobia is an abnormal (but perfectly natural in our opinion) fear of sharks. 

 

cookie-cutter shark - a small shark with a cigar-shaped body

Goblin shark - a rare deepwater shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, considered a living fossil, with a distinctive flattened snout used to detect electric fields created by crabs, squid, etc., which it then grabs using its pointed teeth, the prey being swallowed whole; found off coastlines in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans

Man-eater - The Great White shark, reputedly the shark most dangerous to humans

 Puppy - a young shark

selachophobia - an abnormal fear of sharks

Joan of Arc - rhyming slang for shark

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