Fearsome, fast moving, with razor sharp teeth, The Great White
Shark is one of the 350+ specie of the sharks in the fish family and is related
to the ray. They are known as the largest predator and deadliest fish in the
entire ocean and are found in most temperate water. The Great White Shark’s
scientific name is ‘Caracharadon carcharias’ meaning ‘jagged tooth’.
The Great White Shark is
a streamlined swimmer and has a torpedo shaped body with three main fins and
one powerful tail. This blood thirsty predator has five gills, a pointed snout,
a crescent shaped tail, and two unblinking small, black, glassy eyes which can
be rolled back when in attack.
The Great White Shark has over 3000 teeth and 5-15 rows on
either jaw at one time! They are triangular in shape, razor-sharp and up to 7.5cm
long!
The colouration of The Great White Shark is not all white, only
the underneath is and on the top it is normally a greyish bluish/ blackish
colour. This makes it easy to hunt and
helps them to approach their prey unnoticed as their colouration blends with
the dark water.
The Great White Shark grows to an average of four meters and can
weigh more than 3000 kilograms or less. Baby Great White Sharks (pups) can be
about two meters or less. The largest Great White Shark on record was about
seven meters long!
The Great White Shark lives in most oceans and seas around the
world but are most commonly found in temperate waters near to shore and
coastlines. In Australia
they are most commonly found on the south coast.
The great White
Shark is on the very top of the ocean’s food chain and has a variety of
different food sources. All Great Whites are carnivores which mean they are
meat eaters. They often hunt along the oceans seabed for lobsters, crabs and
other crustations and can swim down to depths more than 100 meters to hunt
squid and deep sea fish. Near to the seas surface Great Whites catch turtles
and fish and sometimes even sneakily catch sea birds floating on the oceans
waves. A Great White Shark can last up to 2 months on one meal if it is
satisfied.
Young Great White Sharks do not have as large of a variety to
the adults but commonly like to eat rays fish and sharks smaller than
themselves. Once the The Great White grows into an adult, they are big enough
and strong enough to feed on other food substances such as the Bottlenose Dolphin,
sea carrion ( dead animals that they have found floating dead in the water),
whales, other sharks, seals and sea lions.
The Great White Shark
does not have many predators because in most cases they are the predator. The
Killer Whale, other large carnivorous whales, its own kind The Great White
Shark, and most of all, humans prey on the species.
The Great White Shark is
a great swimmer and uses its fins to keep balance while their powerful tail
propels them through water. Their average cruising speed is about 3.2 kmph but
can reach a very violent speed when attacking prey such as 30 kmph in small
vicious bursts. An adult Great White can to its highest and most crazy speed of
60kmph! (rare)
The Great White Shark can not stop swimming otherwise it will
sink. Along with other sharks they can not swim backwards! The Great White
shark is primarily famous for its amazing leaps, flips, and spins into the open
air whilst catching prey.
When another creature tries
to attack The Great White Shark, they may kill it first or swim away with great
speed. When two Great White Sharks get into a fight (commonly over food) they
use their tail and fins to slap each other.
The Great White Shark
does not have a set or confirmed migration route and migrate only when in need
of food, different habitat, or when the mother Great White needs to give birth.
During the male and
female Great Whites are mating, the eggs inside the female’s womb are
fertilised. Usually the female Great White Shark migrates to warmer waters for
the eggs to hatch and to give birth. The eggs hatch while they are still inside
the mothers womb and begin to feed on all the unfertilised eggs and sometimes
even on each other. After this approximate 18 months period the female Great
White Shark is ready to give birth and the pups (baby sharks) are ready to be
born (they are already about 1.5meters) (The mother gives birth to 2-14 pups).
Once the pups are born they already have great hunting skills
but they must learn how to survive on their own and move away from the mother
as quick as possible, otherwise she may try to eat them! The pups are now on
their own in the big blue sea and must be careful as they are an easy target to
many creatures. For protection they often live around reefs where there are
good food sources (such as squid, rays, and fish) and places to hide.
The male Great White
Shark matures at about 10 years at the approximate length of 3.6meters, whilst
the female matures at about 18 years of age between lengths of about
4.5-5meters long. When they reach their maturing age they are ready to mate and
breed their own pups and then the lifecycle starts all over again. If a Great
White Shark has lots of scars and scratches it usually means it’s been around
for a while because it has been through a lot. The Great White Shark can live
for as long a 40 years more or less of battles.
The Great White Shark has been in earths oceans and seas for
about 11 million years or more and have evolved from some of they monstrously
gigantic sharks such as the megalodon (giant tooth) that lived millions of
years ago and grew to a size of 18 meters plus! This shark is the largest shark
that has ever lived!
To us
humans The Great White is a threatening, killing, and blood thirsty animal. The
best selling novel ‘Jaws’ by Peter Benchley is a perfect example of The Great
White Shark, ‘ferocious and man eating’ said by Wikipedia. According to ‘Ocean
Link’ dogs kill more humans per year than The Great White has in 100 years! The Great White Shark is known for only one
third to a half of the world wide shark attacks. Humans are the murders not The
Great Whites. Each year humans kill thousands to millions of Great Whites along
with other shark species. They do this to sharks for their teeth, jaws, flesh
(for eating) and just to kill them.
Therefore I think shark finning and catching
for food should be banned. I also believe that organisations that send boats
out to the ocean should be careful, otherwise leaks of toxin could occur, like
in the past. We should think of different ways to reduce the pollution in the water
and air. Littering I also a problem, because you never know where one piece of
plastic could end up, maybe inside a Great Whites stomach.
I
sadly think that this almighty creature’s population will decrease because
there is not enough people that stand by my point of view. The amount of people
in Japan
who fin and kill The Great White Shark is too big for the organisations that
are supporting this creature.
The Great White Shark tooth.
The Great White Shark's tooth & the megalodon tooth.
