Hearing

February 4, 2025

Balance and pressure detection

The shark ear is located in the frontal skull (chrondocranium) and is completely internal with only a tiny opening on the sharks’ head – not the spiracle which is involved in respiration. Audiograms from the 1980s showed that the shark ear detects sound with frequencies ranging from <40 to about 1500 Hertz, with low frequency pulses <60 Hz found to attract most sharks, these pulses are similar to those recorded from speared fish i.e. struggling prey. Sharks can hear sounds from around 3 km away!

The shark ear is also used for balance/orientation (by utilising the fluid filled semi-circular canals, with the movement of the fluid activating mechanosensory hair cells) and pressure detection (by direct activation of the hair cells within the canals allowing sensory signals to be relayed to the brain via the auditory nerve).