Great white sharks, facts and information (2024)

  • Animals
  • Reference

Common Name:
Great white shark

Scientific Name:
Carcharodon carcharias

Type:
Fish

Diet:
Carnivore

Group Name:
School, shoal

Average Life Span:
70+ years

Size:
Up to 21 feet long

Weight:
Up to 4,500 pounds

Great white sharks, facts and information (2)

IUCN Red List Status:
Vulnerable

LC

NT

VU

EN

CR

EW

EX

Least Concern Extinct

Current Population Trend:
Unknown

What is a great white shark?

The great white shark is a type of mackerel shark from the Lamnidae family, which also includes mako sharks, salmon sharks, and porbeagle sharks. Great whites are the largest of the bunch—and the world’s largest predatory fish.

Great whites are named after their white underbellies, but their topsides can come in a variety of browns and grays. This stark contrast between colorations is known as countershading, and it allows many fish species to blend in with their surroundings. Thanks to the immensely popular 1975 film, Jaws, which starred a massive great white, this species is one of the most recognized sharks on the planet.

(Why great white sharks are still a mystery to us.)

Scientists have recently discovered special cells called melanocytes in great white sharks’ skin that appear to allow the predator’s coloration to lighten or darken. It’s thought this ability may lend even more control over their cloaking ability as they sneak up on prey from below.

With bodies shaped like torpedoes and powerful tailfins, great whites can rocket through the water at speeds approaching 35 miles an hour (50 kilometers an hour). This speed and a bite force of up to 1.8 metric tons allows the shark to quickly inflict massive trauma on their prey, disabling their target and thus protecting against a counterattack.

Great white teeth

The great white shark’s infamous smile is made up of seven rows of serrated, 2.5-inch-long teeth. While the animals possess around 300 teeth in total, most aren’t used to bite. Instead, the teeth are part of a highly efficient, conveyor-belt-like apparatus the sharks have evolved to replace teeth that are lost during daily wear and tear. Unlike humans, which only ever grow two sets of teeth, great whites keep growing new chompers as long as they live.

In some cases, great white sharks have even been documented with whole rows of missing teeth, perhaps as the result of a run-in with a shark cage or some other piece of human-made equipment. Scientists say even in these unlikely scenarios, the sharks’ new teeth come in quickly, allowing the animals to once again rise to the upper echelons of the oceanic food chain.

Habitat and diet

While frequently associated with Australia and South Africa, great white sharks tend to be found in temperate and tropical coastal waters all over the planet.

Great white habitat preferences change as they age: Pups and juveniles are more likely to be found in coastal and estuary habitats, and adults usually live farther out at sea in pelagic, or open ocean, ecosystems. However, even large adults will cruise shorelines if there’s a known food source, such as a seal or sea lion rookeries.

(Cape Cod may have the highest density of great white sharks in the world.)

Depending on their size and age, great white sharks target crustaceans, mollusks, sea birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals, including sea lions, seals, dolphins, and even some whales. Great whites will also consume prey that has already died, such as the large carcasses of dead whales, using their steak-knife-like teeth to carve off pieces of rotting flesh.

Reproduction

Great white sharks are relatively slow reproducers, which is not surprising given the animals’ enormous size. For instance, some estimates suggest females cannot even begin reproducing until at least 30 years of age.

Great white shark mothers give birth to live young once every two or three years. Litters usually consist of between two and 17 pups, each of which can be between four and six feet long. Each pup swims into the world fully capable of hunting and surviving on its own and will grow around 12 inches a year for its first five to six years of life.

Conservation

While many people are familiar with this species because of the movie Jaws, which was inspired by a great white shark in New Jersey, the legendary fish is far less fearsome in reality. In fact, just five people were killed by sharks of any species in 2022—despite more people in the water than ever before.

(Why swimmers tend to ignore shark warning signs.)

Today, great whites are one of the most well-studied shark species, and as research on these massive predators increases, their image as mindless killing machines is beginning to fade.

However, great whites are still regularly caught as bycatch by the inshore fishing industry and sometimes specifically targeted in shark culls.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as vulnerable to extinction, with the overall population trending downward. In some nations and regions, including the United States and the Mediterranean, it’s illegal to target great whites while fishing or harvest them if caught accidentally as bycatch. The species is also protected by several international treaties, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species.

Did you know?

The great white shark is the largest predatory shark on Earth.
National Geographic

Great white sharks have a bite more than 20 times stronger than a human.
Journal of Zoology

Great white shark mothers give birth to up to 17 pups at a time.
International Union for Conservation of Nature

At birth, a great white shark pup can already be six-feet-long.
International Union for Conservation of Nature

Great white sharks, facts and information (2024)

FAQs

What are 3 things great white sharks eat? ›

As great white sharks grow in size, so does the range of their prey. Smaller great whites prey on fish, rays, and crustaceans and when they are larger also eat seals, sea lions, dolphins, seabirds, marine turtles, rays, and other sharks.

How long do great whites live? ›

White sharks are long-lived; a recent study at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution determined white sharks can live to be 40 to 70 years old. They do not reproduce for the first several years. Male white sharks become sexually mature at around 9-10 years of age.

How fast is a great white shark? ›

Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are powerful swimmers, capable of going 50 kph / 35 mph. They can migrate long distances, from Hawaii to California, and from South Africa to Australia. More about the great white shark can be found in our Great White Shark featured story.

What are 2 interesting facts about white sharks? ›

1) Great white sharks can be found throughout the world's oceans, mostly in cool waters close to the coast. 2) These super swimmers are the largest predatory fish (fish that eat other fish or animals) on our planet.

What are 10 interesting facts about great white sharks? ›

10 Interesting Facts About the Great White Shark
  • Great White Sharks are actually conflict -avoidant. ...
  • Great White Sharks existed before Dinosaurs. ...
  • The largest Great White Shark was found in Mexico. ...
  • Great Whites have social hierarchy. ...
  • Great whites never use their tongue. ...
  • Great Whites are industrious and efficient.
Dec 2, 2019

What are 10 things great white sharks eat? ›

What do white sharks eat? Newborn white sharks feed on fishes and other sharks. As they reach adulthood, their prey includes sea turtles, seals, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, and small whales. White sharks are also opportunistic scavengers and will feed on the carcasses of whales and basking sharks.

What are 5 things great white sharks eat? ›

They primarily feed on seals, such as grey seals, northern elephant seals, harbour seals, earless seals, and brown fur seals. In addition to seals, great white sharks eat various species of dolphins, including harbour, dusky, and bottlenose. They are also known to prey on whales, including beaked whales and humpbacks.

Are great white sharks smart? ›

In the past decade, Kock and other shark experts have come to realize that sharks rarely hunt humans—and that the beasts are sociable and curious. Unlike most fish," Kock says, "white sharks are intelligent, highly inquisitive creatures."

How old is a 20 ft great white? ›

There's a big gal who shows up in Mexico to entertain cage divers who is 20 feet in length and scientists estimate that due to her size she is around 50 years old.

Do great whites eat every day? ›

Semmens et al concluded that when hunting on open-water fish such as silver seabream, great whites would need to feed at least once every day. Whereas, when they switch to fat-rich mammals around the Neptune Islands, consuming a seal every 2-3 days is probably enough.

How hot is a great white shark? ›

Cold Water, Warm-Blooded Sharks

Studies of white sharks in the gulf in the gulf found that they maintain a constant body temperature of about 26.5°C (almost 80°F). This adaptation allows them to move quickly in cold water and to capture warm-blooded marine mammals, such as seals and sea lions (figs.

Could there be a 25 foot great white shark? ›

The largest white shark reliably measured was a 21-foot (6.4-meter) individual from Cuba. Bites on whale carcasses found off southern Australia suggest that white sharks as long as 25 or 26 feet (7 (1/2) or 8 meters) exist today.

How high can a white shark jump? ›

This spectacular behavior is called breaching, and great white sharks breach in order to catch fast-moving prey like seals. Swimming fast at the surface, sharks can reach 40 miles per hour and fly 10 feet into the air; however, breaching is relatively rare because the shark has to use so much energy to propel itself.

What are some cool facts about great whites? ›

The great white shark is the largest predatory shark on Earth. Great white sharks have a bite more than 20 times stronger than a human. Great white shark mothers give birth to up to 17 pups at a time. At birth, a great white shark pup can already be six-feet-long.

How many hearts do great white sharks have? ›

Sharks are cartilaginous elasmobranch fish with unfused pectoral fins and five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head. Sharks have a single circulatory system and single two-chambered heart.

What is unique about a great white shark? ›

The torpedo shape of the great white is built for speed: up to 35 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour). And then there are the teeth -- 300 total in up to seven rows. But more than brawn, the great white shark has a tremendous brain that coordinates all the highly-developed senses of this efficient hunter.

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