Most sharks prefer to eat certain types of invertebrates, fish and other animals. Some sharks eat mainly fish. Others eat other sharks or marine mammals. Some sharks are even plankton-eaters. Whale sharks, which are the largest fish that ever lived, are plankton feeders like the great whales, thus the name.
Great whites are relatively uncommon large predators that prefer cooler waters.
In some parts of their range, great whites are close to being endangered. Sharks' relatively large and complex brains are comparable in size to those of supposedly more advanced animals like mammals and birds. Sharks also can be trained. Sharks' eyes, which are equipped to distinguish colors, employ a lens up to seven times as powerful as a human's. Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems, a source for knowledge to help the human condition, and the basis of a valuable fishery.