Little Known Facts About Great White Sharks

Since the release of the infamous movie “Jaws”, great white sharks have earned a reputation that leaves terror. The thought of taking a dip in the ocean was suddenly shrouded in danger as reports of shark sightings reached a new peak. Fortunately, marine science is bringing these beautiful and mysterious creatures into a more factual lights. There are quite a few things that might surprise you about these wonderful sharks.

Great white sharks are the only Apex Predator. This means that it has no natural predators, and it’s easy to understand why. Every other apex predator has been tamed in some way, but man has not been able to tame these sharks.

Great white sharks are a huge variety of fish. Some sharks reach up to 20 feet long, with a weight at 5,000 pounds. The sheer size can overwhelm, but to make it even more astounding, these sharks have no bones. Their skeletal structure is made entirely of cartilage. Because the cartilage doesn’t fossilize, there are no shark fossils left. The only part of a these sharks skeletons are their teeth.

A sharks jaw is quite strong. The bottom teeth are not quite as large, but are used to “skewer” the prey. While the great white sharks bottom teeth hold the prey, the top teeth cut through the flesh, trying to remove as much as possible.

Great white sharks are indeed predators. Equipped with a mouthful of nearly 300 serrated teeth, their jaws can easily cut through the meat they get from their diet. Their mouths are usually about 3-4 feet wide,. Generally they will eat sea lions, smaller fish, a dolphin or sometimes even sea turtles. The method a shark uses for eating is to attack the prey from underneath, then will take them to the surface where they will let the prey bleed to death. The sharks will return to eat the carcass as opposed to living prey.

Great white sharks are named because of the white underbelly. These huge sharks are capable of going up to fifteen miles per hour in the water, and have been seen “breaching” the water completely (coming completely out of the water) - especially when attacking prey from underneath.

These sharks have a keen sense of smell, and Great White Sharks can even sense the electromagnetic fields that other animals generate. They use this combination to find food. When looking at pictures of great white sharks, you will see the nostrils that are set above their mouth.

So, what about the fin? Everyone knows the famous sharks fin image coming at you in the water… how does it help the shark? The great white sharks have three fins, a dorsal, pectoral and caudal fins. These fins work in conjunction together to propel the shark through the water. The caudal fin (the tail), propels, the dorsal fin (the one you see on top) and the lower pectoral fins keep the shark on course.

With the incidence of shark attacks much lower than the media has portrayed, these fantastic animals have been feared for the potential damage they can do. While it is not easy to spot a shark on a whim, it has been discovered that these sharks will converge in November in Isla Guadalupe. Researchers are continuing to try to discover why this is, but in the meantime, shark sightings have been common for these sharks off the coast of California and Oregon.

Don’t discount the power of these fabulous Great White Sharks, but don’t live in terror of them. There is a wealth of information on these sharks; once you start reading up on them you will be sure to be hooked on finding out more.

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