Great White Shark - Carcharodon carcharias

The largest living predatory shark in the world lives in coastal waters in every single ocean. This shark is commonly known as the Great White. Since the first sitings of sharks the fear of seeing the terrifying fin break the surface of the water has grown. For the Great White, that fear escalated exponentially after the release of the movie "Jaws." The movie depicted an enormous Great White living solely off human flesh. Afterward, the slaughtering of this amazing animal began to rise. Now, this shark is on the Endangered Species List as Vulnerable because of their low numbers.

Great White Range

But what are the actual "scary" reasons we fear this amazing predator? The Great White is very well adapted to its environment, these traits have allowed it to dominate in the shallow seas. The first remarkable trait is its seemingly never ending row of very sharp serrated teeth. Also when attacking the jaw is pushed outward to more easily grab, and hold onto, their prey.

They also have an amazing sensory system that allows them to track and kill prey easily. Their best sense is smell; they can smell 1 drop of blood in roughly 100 liters of water! That's one of the most incredible sniffers on Earth. The most unique sense they have is the ability to sense electrical discharges in the water. They have little tubes that reach from the tip of their snout and run all the way to the brain, they are filled with "jelly." These tubes detect electric "shock waves" that are created by animals in the water: a splashing seal, for example.

To be efficient at stalking and attacking their prey, the sharks has a long streamlined body  which allows it to be very fast, and also a certain kind of coloring so that the prey have a hard time detecting it before it's too late. That coloring is it's white belly and slow change to dark grey on top. The white belly blends into the white light coming from above so the prey below cannot see it, and the grey from above allows it to blend a little into the sea floor.

This amazing animal also has a size advantage over all other sharks. They average about 12-16 ft in length and usually weigh between 1500-2400 lbs. And, just like with most other shark species, the females are generally larger than the males.

These fantastic animals are not very picky when it comes to their diets on fish (e.g. tuna, other sharks), dolphins, whales, sea otters, sea turtles and even birds sometimes. However, their favorite prey are sea lions, or seals. They have the most energy stores because of their high fat content. A shark can be satisfied for up to 2 months after a meal.

Fun Fact:

• The Great White is also known as White Shark or even White Death.
• The biggest Great White ever recorded was about 23 ft long and weighed roughly 7000 lbs!
• Can have up to 3000 3" teeth at any one time.
• Baby sharks are called pups. The Great White pups can  be up to 5ft long at birth!
• Only about 10 people die every year from Shark attacks, compared to the 1200 that die from jellyfish stings.

 **This post  was written for Brittany; hope you enjoy it.