Fun Facts About Great White Sharks (2024)

FAQs

Fun Facts About Great White Sharks? ›

Adult great white sharks grow to a maximum size of approximately 20 feet in length, weigh up to 6,600 pounds, and are estimated to live for 30 years. Great whites play a special role in the ocean as a top predator by keeping prey populations such as elephant seals and sea lions in balance.

The most incredible sense of the Great White Shark is their ability to sense electromagnetic fields. This 'magic-like' ability is called 'electro-reception' and allows them to navigate through the open ocean by following the map of the earth's magnetic fields within the earth's crust.

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.

Carcharodon carcharias, more commonly known as the great white shark, is one of more than 450 shark species and is the largest of all predatory sharks in the ocean today. Adult great white sharks grow to a maximum size of approximately 20 feet in length, weigh up to 6,600 pounds, and are estimated to live for 30 years.

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.

Most current, scientifically accepted estimates for the Megalodon's maximum size fall into the 60-70 foot range, with a weight of 50-70 tons.

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.

It is a common misconception that sharks as a species never sleep because they must keep moving to stay alive. Sharks do engage in periods of rest throughout the day, but it is much different from the kind of sleep that other animals engage in.

How long can a great white shark 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.

The shortfin mako shark is a large, predatory shark that lives in the open ocean and reaches lengths of 12 feet (3.8 m) and weights of at least 1200 pounds (545 kg). With top speeds of 45 miles per hour (74 kilometers per hour), the shortfin mako is the fastest shark and is one of the fastest fishes on the planet.

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.

The Largest Great White Shark on Record

See, as recently as a couple of centuries ago, people reported white sharks exceeding 30 feet, but none that large have been observed in the modern era. Those reports are generally considered to have been exaggerations.

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.

Great White builds weaknesses are there average health and stealth. This means it is slightly hard to sneak on prey without getting caught, or simply they have to rely on fleeing and swimming away rather than hiding.