Sharks have many keen senses that are mostly geared towards helping them locate prey. Depending on the species or the environment certain senses are more or less important to them for locating their targeted prey, which is most often fish. Sharks use the senses of smell (chemoreception), vision, hearing, the lateral line system, and electroreception (ampullae of Lorenzini) for capturing prey.

The lateral line system, which all fishes possess, allows them to detect waves of pressure or mechanical disturbances in the water.

The ampullae of Lorenzini are receptors that can detect weak electric fields. This sense is unique to sharks and their relatives. Sharks primarily use this sense to locate cryptic prey which can not be detected by their other senses, such as stingrays buried in sand. The stingray, like all living animals, emit weak electric fields produced by muscular contractions in the body. Sharks have the extra predatory advantage of being able to detect those fields at close range. More information on electric organs of elasmobranchs and other fish adaptations.

Hunting habits of three species are summarized below: the white (Carcharodon carcharias), tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), and bull (Carcharhinus leucas) sharks. These species are also responsible for the majority of attacks on humans.

The white shark, when targeting seals in coastal areas, is thought to be a primarily visual ambush predator. It cruises on or near the ocean bottom looking up to the surface for basking or swimming seals. When a seal is spotted it will make a high speed rush and attempt to mortally wound it in the first strike. It is believed that most white shark attacks on surfers are the result of the shark mistaking the surfboard for a seal. In most cases, once the shark gets a mouthful of fiberglass or neoprene instead of a fatty seal, it will tend to leave the scene. This initial strike can however leave a victim with serious wounds.

Tiger sharks are usually nomadic in their movements, and therefore use their “long-range” senses, like smell and hearing, for helping to key in on prey. They can detect the scent of dead fish, birds, or turtles from very long distances, and follow the odor corridor to its source. Once close enough, vision becomes the more dominant sense leading up to the consumption of the prey. Of course, chance visual encounters with live prey often occur as well.

Bull sharks tend to occur in shallow coastal waters where visibility is often poor. They have smaller eyes than other closely-related sharks, and it is therefore believed that bull sharks do not rely on vision as much as some of their other senses. When relying more on the sense of hearing, smell, or their lateral line, they can more easily mistake human activity in the water as that of their prey which is mostly comprised of schooling fishes.