What purpose do sharks serve (in terms of the food chain)?

[her209]

Would anyone miss them?

 

[veloc1ty]

you plan on killing all of them? good luck

 

[Ikonomi]

They support symbiont fish.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: her209
Would anyone miss them?

Yes. Is this a joke? Sharks are the wolves of the sea. If you're interested to see what happens to an environment stripped of predators, read up on the wolves of Yellowstone of some such.

 

[sniperruff]

they exist so dr. evil can attach laser beams on their friggin' heads

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
they exist so dr. evil can attach laser beams on their friggin' heads

 

[MustangSVT]

they eat seals.

 

[brigden]

Imagine an ecosystem with no top predators keeping the foodchain in check.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Sharks have been known to feed on dead/dying animals in the ocean. On TV, I remember seeing great whites munching on a floating, dead whale. It was pretty cool.

 

[spidey07]

the ocean would probably just stop.

They serve an extremely import role (master predator/scavenger)

 

[Schadenfroh]

keeping their prey from overpopulating and disrupting balance?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: spidey07
the ocean would probably just stop.

They serve an extremely import role (master predator/scavenger)

That's not true. The oceans won't become overrun by their prey. It doesn't really work that way... In fact sharks and other predatory fish are suffering from overfishing. They have less and less prey.