But they can be found in the cooler waters off the state's shoreline between December and March, said Burgess, who is director of the International Shark Attack File, housed at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus. Everybody who sees a white shark seems to have this inclination to put its jaws on their mantle. One of the threatened species of sharks, white sharks are almost certainly less plentiful than they once were along the East Coast and in the Caribbean because of loss of natural prey and over fishing, Burgess said.
White sharks are apex predators.
They're at the top of the food chain. They have no predators, other than us. Scientists are beginning to develop a better understanding of the biological and behavioral aspects of white sharks, thanks to a recent research boom, he said. New findings on these marine predators show their attacks on humans, which are extremely rare, in virtually all instances appear to be cases of chasing after what the sharks think is an appropriately sized food item, Burgess said. In the coastal waters off California, which leads the nation in white shark attacks, white sharks normally prey on seals or sea lions that stray from their packs, Burgess said.