General term for sharks; commonly written in katakana as サメ.
昨日、水族館で大きなサメを見た。
Yesterday I saw a big shark at the aquarium.
I saw a news report about a surfer being attacked by a shark.
サメは海の食物連鎖の頂点に立つ生き物だ。
Sharks are creatures at the top of the ocean food chain.
エイ (rays) and サメ (sharks) are both cartilaginous fish that learners often lump together, but エイ have flattened bodies and gill slits on their underside while サメ have torpedo-shaped bodies and lateral gill slits.
sturgeon
remora; suckerfish · live sharksucker
whale shark
great white shark; white pointer
whale shark
hammerhead shark
basking shark
starspotted smooth-hound; Mustelus manazo
oceanic whitetip shark
Katakana spelling is common and matches usual-kana usage; the hiragana reading is さめ.
Kanji form is recognized but less common in everyday writing; usually written in kana.
Hiragana spelling is also used, though katakana is more typical for animal names.
The origin is uncertain; the word is native Japanese. The kanji 鮫 is a phono-semantic compound with 魚 (fish) and 交 (mix, exchange), but the exact historical derivation is unclear.
spiny dogfish
bull shark
brownbanded bambooshark
Japanese bullhead shark; bullhead shark
spotless smooth-hound; Mustelus griseus
Japanese angel shark
spinner shark; long-nose grey shark