Sharks have patrolled the oceans for over 400 million years, longer than trees have existed on land. These riddles cover how sharks breathe, hunt and sense their world, along with the strangest sharks in the sea.
Each riddle has a different answer, so you will learn about dorsal fins, dermal denticles, the glowing lantern shark and the Greenland shark that can live for centuries.
Easy Shark Riddles for Kids
- I have fins, rows of sharp teeth and I am a top hunter in the sea. What am I? 👉 A shark
- I am the fin that sticks up out of the water on a shark’s back. What am I? 👉 A dorsal fin
- I am a shark with a head shaped like a hammer. What am I? 👉 A hammerhead shark
- I am the big shark from a famous 1975 movie about a beach town. What am I? 👉 The great white shark
- I am a baby shark. What am I called? 👉 A pup
- I am the slits on a shark’s side that let it breathe. What am I? 👉 Gills
- I am a strong metal box that divers sit in to watch sharks up close. What am I? 👉 A shark cage
- I am a clever ocean mammal that breathes air and clicks to talk, and sharks sometimes swim near me. What am I? 👉 A dolphin
Shark Fact Riddles
These riddles are based on real shark science. The note after each answer explains it.
- I am a small fish with a sucker on my head, and I hitch rides on sharks. What am I? 👉 A remora
- Shark skin is covered in tiny tooth-like scales called this. What are they? 👉 Dermal denticles
- Sharks lose and regrow these thousands of times in their lives. What are they? 👉 Teeth
- A shark skeleton is not made of bone. It is made of this. What is it? 👉 Cartilage
- Sharks can sense the tiny electric signals of prey with these special organs. What are they? 👉 Ampullae of Lorenzini
- I am a slow Arctic shark, and I may be the longest-living animal with a backbone. What am I? 👉 The Greenland shark (scientists estimate some live for more than 250 years)
- I am the fastest shark in the ocean. What am I? 👉 The shortfin mako
- I am a small deep-sea shark that glows in the dark. What am I? 👉 The lantern shark
- Sharks have been around longer than these living things on land. What are they? 👉 Trees
- I am a shark that can swim far up rivers into fresh water. What am I? 👉 The bull shark
- I am the second-largest fish in the world, and I swim with my huge mouth wide open to catch plankton. What am I? 👉 The basking shark
- Some sharks must keep swimming so water flows over their gills. What is this called? 👉 Ram ventilation
- The empty egg cases of some sharks wash up on beaches with this nickname. What is it? 👉 A mermaid’s purse
- I am a small reef shark that can “walk” on my fins in shallow water. What am I? 👉 The epaulette shark
- People kill about this many sharks every year: 1 thousand, 1 million or about 100 million? 👉 About 100 million
Funny Shark Riddles
- What do sharks eat with peanut butter? 👉 Jellyfish
- Where do sharks go on vacation? 👉 Finland
- Why do sharks never eat clowns? 👉 They taste funny
Shark Brain Teasers
- A shark loses 1 tooth every week. How many teeth does it lose in 10 years? 👉 520
- A shark swims at 10 km/h for 3 hours. How far does it travel? 👉 30 km
- A diver sees 12 sharks, and one third of them are hammerheads. How many hammerheads are there? 👉 4
Want more riddles? Browse our blog for more collections, and if you spot a mistake in any answer, let us know on our Contact page.