Great White Shark Facts & Stats

Type: Fish
Common name: Great white shark, white shark, white pointer, white-death, mango-taniwha
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Lamnidae
Genus Species: Carcharodon carcharias
Diet: Carnivore

Size:
15 ft (4.6 m) to more than 20 ft (6 m)

Weight:
5,000 lbs (2,268 kg) or more

Group name:
School or shoal

Range:
Found in all oceanic regions of the world save polar waters. Though not abundant, they are most frequently sighted off the coasts of the United States, Australia, and South Africa.

Habitat:
Great white sharks favor temperate waters worldwide, primarily along coastlines. Additionally, they may be found in tropical and sub-tropical waters.

Protection status:
Endangered

Did you know these great white shark facts?
1. Great whites can detect one drop of blood in 25 gal (100 L) of water and can sense even tiny amounts of blood in the water up to 3 mi (5 km) away.

2. Although it is not the largest of all sharks, the great white is the largest predatory shark. Some relatively harmless sharks, like the whale shark, are much larger than the great white.

3. Scientists can easily identify the teeth of a great white shark. The upper teeth are large, broad, and triangular, while the lower teeth are slightly more slender. All the teeth are serrated. Like other sharks, a great white continually looses its teeth and replaces them with new ones.

4. Though great white attacks on humans are well documented, they are generally rare. Recent studies suggest that great whites may find humans unpalatable. Attacks probably occur when a shark mistakes a human for a seal or sea lion, the great white's principle prey.

Males reach maturity at 3.5-4.0 metres (11-13 ft), and females at 4.5-5.0 metres (15-16 ft). Adults on average are 4-5.2 metres (13-17.1 ft) long and have a mass of 680-1,100 kilograms (1,500-2,400 lb). Females are generally larger than males. It is widely accepted that the great white shark can approach 6.1 m (20 ft) in length and 1,900 kg (4,200 lb) in weight. However, the maximum size is still subject to hot debate because such reports are often rough estimations or speculations performed under questionable circumstances.

A number of very large great white shark specimens have been recorded. For decades, many ichthyological works, as well as the Guinness Book of World Records, listed two great white sharks as the largest individuals: a 10.9 m (36 ft) great white captured in Southern Australian waters near Port Fairy in the 1870s, and a 11.3 m (37 ft) shark trapped in a herring weir in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1930s. Some researchers question these measurements' reliability, noting they were much larger than any other accurately reported sighting. The New Brunswick shark may have been a misidentified basking shark, as the two have similar body shapes. The question of the Port Fairy shark was settled in the 1970s, when J. E. Randall examined the shark's jaws and "found that the Port Fairy shark was of the order of 5 m (17 ft) in length and suggested that a mistake had been made in the original record, in 1870, of the shark's length".

According to J. E. Randall, the largest white shark reliably measured was a 6.0 m (19.7 ft) individual reported from Ledge Point, Western Australia in 1987. Another great white specimen of similar size has been verified by the Canadian Shark Research Center: a female caught by David McKendrick of Alberton, Prince Edward Island in August 1988 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off PEI. This female great white was 6.1 m (20 ft) long. However, a larger great white shark specimen was verified by T. C. Tricas and J. E. McCosker in 1984. This specimen was 6.4 m (21 ft) long and had a body mass of about 3,324 kg (7,330 lb).

Great white shark caught off Hualien County, Taiwan on May 14, 1997. It was reportedly almost 7 m (23 ft) in length, with a mass of 2,500 kilograms (5,500 lb).

Several great white sharks caught in modern times have been estimated to be more than 7 m (23 ft) long, but these claims have received some criticism. However, J. E. Randall believed that great white shark may have exceeded 6.1 m (20 ft) in length. A great white shark was captured near Kangaroo Island in Australia on April 1, 1987. This shark was estimated to be more than 7 m (23 ft) long by Peter Resiley, and has been designated as KANGA. Another great white shark was caught in Malta by Alfredo Cutajar on April 16, 1987. This shark was also estimated to be around 7.13 m (23.4 ft) long by John Abela and has been designated as MALTA.[21] However, criticism occurred - Cappo used shark size estimation methods proposed by J. E. Randall to suggest that KANGA specimen was 5.8-6.4 m (19-21 ft) long. In the similar fashion, I. K. Fergusson also used shark size estimation methods proposed by J. E. Randall to suggest that MALTA specimen was 5.3-5.7 m (17-19 ft) long. However, photographic evidence suggested that these specimens were larger than the size estimations yielded through Randall's methods. Thus, a team of scientists, H. F. Mollet, G. M. Cailliet, A. P. Klimley, D. A. Ebert, A. D. Testi, and L. J. V. Compagno, reviewed the cases of KANGA and MALTA specimens in 1996 to resolve the dispute by conducting a comprehensive morphometric analysis of the remains of these sharks and re-examination of photographic evidence in an attempt to validate the original size estimations and their findings were consistent with them. The findings indicated that estimations by P. Resiley and J. Abela are reasonable and cannot be ruled out.

A close contender in size is the Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, with largest specimen reported to have been 7.4 metres (24 ft) in length along with a mass of 3,110 kilograms (6,900 lb). Some other macropredatory sharks such as Greenland Shark, Somniosus microcephalus, and Pacific sleeper shark, Somniosus pacificus, are also known to rival these sharks in length. The question of maximum weight is complicated by the unresolved question of whether or not to include the shark's stomach contents when weighing the shark. With a single bite a great white can take in up to 14 kg (31 lb) of flesh, and can consume several hundred kilograms of food.

The largest great white recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is one landed by Alf Dean in south Australian waters in 1959, weighing 1,208 kg (2,660 lb). Several larger great whites caught by anglers have since been verified, but were later disallowed from formal recognition by IGFA monitors for rules violations.

A 2007 study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, used CT scans of a shark's skull and computer models to measure maximum bite force.

The study reveals the forces and behaviors its skull is adapted to handle and resolves competing theories about its feeding behaviour. In 2008, a team of scientists led by Stephen Wroe conducted an experiment to determine great white shark's jaw power and findings indicated that a specimen more than 6.1 m (20 ft) long could exert a bite force of over 18,000 newtons (4,000 lbf).

Great white sharks are carnivorous, and prey upon fish (e.g. tuna, rays, other sharks), cetaceans (i.e., dolphins, porpoises, whales), pinnipeds (e.g. seals, fur seals, and sea lions), sea turtles, sea otters, and seabirds. Great whites have also been known to eat objects that they are unable to digest. Upon approaching a length of nearly 4 metres (13 ft), great white sharks begin to target predominately marine mammals for food. These sharks prefer prey with a high content of energy-rich fat. Shark expert Peter Klimley used a rod-and-reel rig and trolled carcasses of a seal, a pig, and a sheep to his boat in the South Farallons. The sharks attacked all three baits but rejected the sheep carcass.

Great white sharks' reputation as ferocious predators is well-earned, yet they are not (as was once believed) indiscriminate "eating machines". They are ambush hunters, taking prey by surprise from below. Near the now famous Seal Island, in South Africa's False Bay, shark attacks most often occur in the morning, within 2 hours after sunrise, when visibility is poor. Their success rate is 55% in the first 2 hours, falling to 40% in late morning, after which hunting stops.

Hunting techniques vary by prey species. Off Seal Island the shark ambush cape fur seals from below at high speeds, hitting the seal mid-body. They go so fast that they can completely leave the water. The peak burst speed of these sharks is largely accepted in the scientific community to be above 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph). However further precision is still speculative. They have also been observed chasing prey after a missed attack. Prey is usually attacked at the surface.

Off California, sharks immobilize northern elephant seals with a large bite to the hindquarters (which is the main source of the seal's mobility) and wait for the seal to bleed to death. This technique is especially used on adult male elephant seals which can be as large or larger than the hunter and are potentially dangerous adversaries. Prey is normally attacked sub-surface. Harbour seals are simply grabbed from the surface and pulled down until they stop struggling. They are then eaten near the bottom. California sea lions are ambushed from below and struck mid-body before being dragged and eaten.

White sharks attack dolphins and porpoises from above, behind or below to avoid being detected by their echolocation. Targeted species include dusky dolphins, Risso's dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, Humpback dolphins, harbour porpoises, and Dall's porpoises. Close encounters between dolphins and predatory sharks often result in evasive responses by the dolphins. However, in rare cases, a group of dolphins may chase a single predatory shark away in an act of defense. White shark predation on some species of whales have also been observed - white sharks often attack and prey upon pygmy sperm whales, Kogia breviceps, in the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, white sharks also attack and prey upon beaked whales.

Even though the great whites are known to generally avoid conflicts with each other, the phenomenon of cannibalism is not alien to this species. Large individuals may aggressively interact intraspecifically with small individuals. A 3 m (9.8 ft) long great white shark was nearly bitten into two by a reportedly 6 m (20 ft) long great white shark in Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane in Australia.

White sharks also scavenge on whale carcasses. In one such documented incident, white sharks were observed scavenging on a whale carcass alongside tiger sharks.