The legendary nice man-eating shark is much additional dread in our imaginations than truly. As research on these elusive predators will increase, their image as mindless killing machines is commencing to fade. Learn more about the great white shark diet here.
Of the 100-plus annual shark attacks worldwide, totally fierce to simple fraction square measure owing to nice whites. However, most of those aren't fatal, and new analysis finds that nice whites, World Health Organization square measure naturally curious, square measure "sample biting" then cathartic their victims instead of preying on humans. it is not a very comforting distinction, however it will indicate that humans aren't really on the nice white's menu.
Great whites square measure the most important predatory fish on Earth. They grow to a median of fifteen feet (4.6 meters) long, tho' specimens exceptional twenty feet (6 meters) and consideration up to five,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) are recorded.
They have achromatic higher bodies to mix in with the rocky coastal ocean floor, however get their name from their universally white underbellies. they're efficient, torpedo-shaped swimmers with powerful tails that may propel them through the water at speeds of up to fifteen miles (24 kilometers) per hour. they will even leave the water fully, breaching like whales once offensive prey from beneath.
Highly tailored predators, their mouths square measure lined with up to three hundred toothed, triangular teeth organized in many rows, and that they have AN exceptional sense of smell to observe prey. They even have organs that may sense the little magnetic attraction fields generated by animals. Their main prey things embody ocean lions, seals, little toothed whales, and even ocean turtles, and carrion.
Found in cool, coastal waters throughout the globe, there's no reliable information on the nice white's population. However, scientists agree that their variety square measure decreasing sharply thanks to overfishing and accidental catching in gill nets, among alternative factors, and that they square measure listed as AN species. There are conservation facts on sharks on this website.