Shark
Every week at Hull’s Artlink/87 Gallery on Princes Avenue, our Gallery Explorers groups for 7-16 year olds meet to work with contemporary artists and develop their confidence, discover new ideas and processes, and learn about creative careers in a unique and exciting environment.
The older group (aged 12 – 16) worked on the theme of Sharks.
Artist: Explorers
Fish Profile
Shark
Sharks, alongside rays and chimaeras, are known as chondrichthyan fishes (class Chondrichthyes). Sharks and rays together are termed elasmobranchs (subclass Elasmobranchii).
Conservation status
There are over 1,290 ‘described species’ of chondrichthyan living in our oceans for over 400 million years, but which are now threatened by a number of factors including fishing. The IUCN established a Shark Specialist Group (SSG) in 1991 as a response to the ‘severe’ impact of fishing on sharks (also rays and chimaeras). For example, the Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus and the largest living fish), which live in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List – as global populations have declined by more than 50%. In 2024 the IUCN (SSG) published a report stating that ‘a third of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are threatened with extinction’. The 2,000-word report highlights that the global demand for shark meat has doubled since 2005 and emphasises the threats posed by overfishing and bycatch.