Approximately 20' long and 1,000 pounds in weight. They use their long forked tails to sweep prey in front of them, and to frighten fish by slapping the water. At 25 tons, this shark is the largest fish in the world. But it eats only plankton and small fish. Well, yes and no.
Most sharks are predatory, but only a small number are known to attack humans unprovoked.
The state of California has one of the highest rates of shark attacks in the world, yet even there the average is only one shark-related death every eight years. This proves that most of the incidents aren't related to feeding. Scientists believe that most sharks attack humans to protect their territory, which is increasingly threatened by swimmers and boaters, or because they mistake people for more tasty food. On the flip side, humans kill between 20 and 100 million sharks every year. Shark meat is prized as a nutritious food, plus flesh and organs are sold for medicine, vitamins, and poultry feed.