Shark Week 2013 Began yesterday on the Discovery Channel.  Shark Week 2013 is the latest in a 26-year phenomenon that has fascinated viewers obsessed with sharks.  Shark Week 2013 features around-the-clock specials about sharks, including 11 hours of new material.

Ever since the terrifying shark movie Jaws, viewers have loved a good shark attack.  Sharknado starring Tara Reid was the summer's surprise breakout hit movie about the hypothetical combination of Sharks and Tornados.

Discovery Channel Shark Week 2013 is more documentary than fiction.  Shark Week 2013 documentaries include the 10 most dangerous shark species.  Will Jaws the Great White Shark be on the list?  What about Free Willy the Orca Whale?

Watch Shark Week 2013 Video Here:

According to Wikipedia, Sharks are "a group of fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head."  There are over 470 species of sharks.  Sharks are apex predators, at the top of the food chain.  Sharks used to be known to mariners as sea dogs.

Sharks are generally a salt water species with only a few freshwater shark species - so you don't have to be afraid of going in the pool.   While sharks are feared by many ocean-goers, only a few sharks are known to be involved in a significant number of fatal and unproked attacks - the great white, oceanic whitetip, tiger, and bull sharks.

While shark attacks on humans are rare, human killing of sharks is epidemic.  It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed by people every year, due to commercial and recreational fishing.  Shark fin soup is popular in China.  Those fishing for sharks for the shark fin soup practice something called "shark finning", where fishermen remove the fin from the shark and toss the shark back.  The resulting immobile shark dies soon afterwards from suffocation or predators.  Other threats to sharks include habitat damage and loss from coastal development and pollution, and the impact of fisheries.