Great White Shark

The **great white shark** (*Carcharodon carcharias*), commonly known as the **great white** or the **white shark**, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. The great white shark is notable for its size, with larger female individuals growing to 6.1 m (20 ft) in length and 1,905 kg (4,200 lb) in weight at maturity. However most are smaller, males measuring 3.4 to 4.0 m (11 to 13 ft) and females 4.6 to 4.9 m (15 to 16 ft) on average. According to a 2014 study the lifespan of great white sharks is estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, well above previous estimates, making it one of the longest lived cartilaginous fish currently known. According to the same study, male great white sharks take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, while the females take 33 years to be ready to produce offspring. Great white sharks can swim at speeds of over 56 km/h (35 mph), and can swim to depths of 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

The great white shark has no known natural predators other than, on very rare occasion, the killer whale. The great white shark is arguably the world's largest known extant macropredatory fish, and is one of the primary predators of marine mammals. It is also known to prey upon a variety of other marine animals, including fish and seabirds. It is the only known surviving species of its genus *Carcharodon*, and is ranked first in having the most recorded shark bite incidents on humans.

The species faces numerous ecological challenges which has resulted in international protection. The IUCN lists the great white shark as a vulnerable species, and it is included in Appendix II of CITES. It is also protected by several national governments such as Australia (as of 2018).

The novel *Jaws* by Peter Benchley and the subsequent film by Steven Spielberg depicted the great white shark as a "ferocious man eater". Humans are not the preferred prey of the great white shark,[17] but, nevertheless, the great white is responsible for the largest number of reported and identified fatal unprovoked shark attacks on humans. The great white shark has also been called the **white pointer** or **white death**.

## Description

The great white shark was one of the many amphibia originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his *Systema Naturae*, its first scientific name, *Squalus carcharias*. Later, Sir Andrew Smith gave it *Carcharodon* as its generic name in 1833, and also in 1873. The generic name was identified with Linnaeus' specific name and the current scientific name, *Carcharodon carcharias*, was finalized. *Carcharodon* comes from the Ancient Greek words *karcharos*, which means sharp or jagged, and *odous*, which means tooth.

Great white sharks live in almost all coastal and offshore waters which have water temperature between 12 and 24 °C (54 and 75 °F), with greater concentrations in the United States (Northeast and California), South Africa, Japan, Oceania, Chile, and the Mediterranean including Sea of Marmara and Bosphorus. One of the densest known populations is found around Dyer Island, South Africa.

The great white is an epipelagic fish, observed mostly in the presence of rich game, such as fur seals (*Arctocephalus* ssp.), sea lions, cetaceans, other sharks, and large bony fish species. In the open ocean, it has been recorded at depths as great as 1,200 m (3,900 ft). These findings challenge the traditional notion that the great white is a coastal species.

According to a recent study, California great whites have migrated to an area between Baja California Peninsula and Hawaii known as the White Shark Café to spend at least 100 days before migrating back to Baja. On the journey out, they swim slowly and dive down to around 900 m (3,000 ft). After they arrive, they change behavior and do short dives to about 300 m (1,000 ft) for up to ten minutes. Another white shark that was tagged off of the South African coast swam to the southern coast of Australia and back within the year. A similar study tracked a different great white shark from South Africa swimming to Australia's northwestern coast and back, a journey of 20,000 km (12,000 mi; 11,000 nmi) in under nine months. These observations argue against traditional theories that white sharks are coastal territorial predators, and open up the possibility of interaction between shark populations that were previously thought to have been discrete. The reasons for their migration and what they do at their destination is still unknown. Possibilities include seasonal feeding or mating.

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