Sand shark (Earth-2165)

The sand shark is a species of massive carnivorous predators native to the Si Wong Desert, lurking underneath its sands and searching for mobile prey for it to feast on.

History
While Team 7, Temari, and Chiyo moved underneath the surface of the Si Wong Desert in the search of Gaara, a sand shark found them but remained hidden. Not long after Asami Satō sperheaded the repair of the sand-sailer they purchased earlier on at the Misty Palms Oasis, the sand shark bursted out of the sand and lifted the sailer into the air before destroying it with its jaw. The shark then returned to pursue the stranded crew, prompting the team to continue on foot. Kakashi Hatake's bending skills, however, dealt a massive injure against the creature, which ran away.

Anatomy
Sand shark are gigantic creatures, which are mainly brown in color dorsally and cream in ventral coloration, which permits it to remain inconspicuous in the sand. The sand sharks havbe a pair of pectoral fins and a pair of short, terminally pelvic and anal fins that allows them to maintain a good speed underneath the sand. It can be easily identified by a large central dorsal fin adjoined anteriorly and posteriorly through spiny keels.

The shark possesses a large gape that extends to almost all of its body and contains eight rows of tooth whorls, distributed by each side of its upper mouth flap: two rows for the jaws and another for the cheeks. The whorls are embedded with countless of brightly-colored musculature that permits the shark to close its mouth.

Behavior
Sand shark are solitary predators focused on ambushing their prey that are constantly moving underground. It is largely inconspicous aside from its dorsal fin that can be clearly seen whenever it is nearing the surface, as well as the movement of nearby dunes as it navigates through the sand. Its preferred method of attacking is to leap out of the sand and launch at its prey while opening its mouth, preventing other animals from escaping its reach. The body shape of the sand shark allows it to easily move at high speeds under the sands, surpassing even the speeds of a sand-sailer.