How long do sharks live?

Question

How long do sharks live?

Answer 1

Scientists don't know for certain how long whale sharks live. We do know that some species of sharks that live for 100 years are not able to breed until they are 20 years old. This means they must spend 1/5th of their lives evading capture until they can reproduce at all. It appears that male whale sharks are not able to breed until they are about 30 years old. If 30 years is 1/5th of a whale shark's expected life span it may normally live for well over a century, possibly even 150 years or longer.

Answer 2

There is a very large range between the educated estimates of sharks' lifespans.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subject...

Answer 3

5000weeks

Answer 4

There are many species of sharks, over 200 species.  There is no such thing as an average shark.  Therefore their life spans would vary significantly.  Also, there just is not enough data on shark longevity.

Here are two examples, first the grey reef shark, longest known lifespan is 25 years.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/si...

The great white shark does not mate until it is about 12 or 15 years old.  There have been a few individual records of whites living 25 years.

http://www.prbo.org/cms/215