1st correct answer, 10 points
2006-07-31 18:19:49 · 14 answers · asked by SweetBrunette 5 in Entertainment & Music ➔ Jokes & Riddles
Because pepper water makes them sneeze
2006-07-31 18:23:20 · answer #1 · answered by tlalteutli 4 · 6⤊ 1⤋
sharks store certain metabolic wastes (namely, urea and trimethylamine oxide, or TMAO for short) so that their overall 'saltiness' is actually slightly greater than that of the sea. As a result, sharks do not continually lose their bodily supply of freshwater to the sea. Instead, any fresh water they need diffuses gently into their bodies through the mouth, gills, and other exposed membranes. Any excess water in a shark's body is filtered by the kidneys and excreted out an opening called the 'cloaca', located between the pelvic fins (the rearmost paired fins, behind the shark's belly). It's a very elegant solution to a significant environmental challenge. But it has its limitations.
If a typical sharks were to swim its very 'salty' body into fresh water, so much fresh water would diffuse into its tissues that the kidneys would have to work overtime in order to get rid of it all. This is a very energy-demanding process, and explains why most sharks do not enter fresh water: it's simply too much effort to keep excreting all that freshwater. But some sharks, such as the Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas), are able to enter fresh water for prolonged periods. They achieve this neat trick by greatly reducing their bodily concentrations of urea and TMAO. Even so, a Bull Shark in fresh water is slightly saltier than its surrounding environment, so that it must continually excrete excess water in the form of dilute urine. In total, some 43 species of sharks and rays (which are essentially flattened sharks) spend at least part of their lives in fresh water. But one family of South American stingrays -- the so-called River Stingrays (Potamotrygonidae) -- evolved from a marine ancestor to become thoroughly adapted to living in fresh water. So much so, in fact, that their bodies have lost the ability to manufacture urea and -- if placed in full-strength seawater, they quickly die. These freshwater stingrays are thus trapped by their biochemistry.
2006-08-01 01:25:21 · answer #2 · answered by Guzzy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not all sharks live in Salt water, some are able to live quite happily in both Salt and fresh water.
2006-08-01 01:23:23 · answer #3 · answered by Stuart G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a few species of shark that live in fresh water, in south America someplace I believe.
2006-08-01 01:32:42 · answer #4 · answered by Don S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since the city is getting to expensive, they decided to move to the country... as the country is getting is getting filled up with dirty, long-haired hippies, they chose the ocean.
2006-08-01 01:23:03 · answer #5 · answered by sunflower1237 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
some people really take the fun out of a joke, huh! my guess would be, like, to add flavor to thier food?
2006-08-01 01:32:03 · answer #6 · answered by bumble bee 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They can't survive in fresh water.
2006-08-01 01:22:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because thats were the fish live.
2006-08-01 01:24:06 · answer #8 · answered by cottonblossom26 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cause livin in pepper water wouldn't make sense
2006-08-01 01:31:12 · answer #9 · answered by navigne 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Um... there are some freshwater sharks, you know...
2006-08-01 01:24:02 · answer #10 · answered by 42ITUS™ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋