More than just one fin
There are hundreds of shark species, and this word search rounds up the famous ones and a few surprises. You'll be tracking the unmistakable HAMMERHEAD, the rocket-fast MAKO, the long-tailed THRESHER, and the reef patrollers BLACKTIP and WHITETIP cruising the shallows.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the shiver, so the catch changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a Hard-mode deep dive once the diagonals and backwards words appear (a NURSE shark may nap in backwards).
The weird, the huge and the extinct
Sharks get seriously strange, and we've hidden the oddities. Look for the carpet-like WOBBEGONG and CARPET sharks, the alien-jawed GOBLIN shark, the eel-like FRILLED shark, the spiky BRAMBLE and little DOGFISH, the gentle giant BASKING shark, and the ancient MEGALODON — the biggest shark that ever lived. There's the flattened ANGEL shark, the leaping SPINNER, the heavyweight BULL and TIGER, plus the cold-loving GREENLAND shark, which can live for centuries.
Older than the dinosaurs
Sharks are one of nature's great success stories. They have been swimming the oceans for more than 400 million years — long before the dinosaurs, and before trees existed on land — and have barely needed to change. Unlike other fish, a shark's skeleton is made of bendy cartilage (the same stuff as your ears) rather than bone, which keeps it light and flexible, and many species must keep swimming to push water over their gills and breathe.
Their senses are extraordinary. A shark can smell a tiny trace of blood in a huge volume of water, and special jelly-filled pores on its snout let it detect the faint electricity given off by a hidden fish's muscles. Yet most sharks are nothing like the movie monster: the giant BASKING shark just glides along filtering tiny plankton, and the slow GREENLAND shark may live over 400 years, making it the longest-living backboned animal on Earth. As top predators they keep the ocean's food chains healthy, which makes sharks a brilliant topic for an ocean or food-chain lesson.
Great for an ocean or food-chain topic
Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words, perfect for a sea-predators lesson with younger learners. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use Make Your Own to build a grid from your own favourite sharks.
Frequently asked questions
Which sharks are in the word search?
A whole shiver of species — hammerhead, mako, thresher, tiger, bull, nurse and reef, plus oddities like wobbegong, goblin, basking and the extinct megalodon. Each puzzle uses a fresh mix.
Is the megalodon real?
It was — the MEGALODON was a giant shark that lived millions of years ago and is now extinct. It's hidden in the grid alongside today's sharks like the HAMMERHEAD and MAKO.
Is it good for an ocean or food-chain topic?
Great for it. Easy mode keeps the grid small with no diagonals or reverse words, perfect for a sea-predators lesson with younger learners.