Great White Shark

Structure

The Great White Shark has a heavy spindle- shaped body. They have an exceptionally long conical snout. They are huge, flat and triangular, too. The sharks have blade-like teeth with long gills with slits. The Great White has a huge first dorsal fin with a light rear tip. The fish has a pivoting second dorsal and anal fin. Additionally, the Great White has very strong keels on its candual peduncle. There are no secondary keels on the candual base. Most of their body is white. Their nostrils are lateral to their snout and their teeth in the upper jaw are big. These are the physical characteristics of a Great White Shark.

 Reproduction

There isn't much known about how the Great White Shark reproduces. Recently scientists were able to study a pregnant Great White Shark. It is believed that the Great White Sharks breed by internal fertilization and that the young sharks eat other fertilized eggs while growing inside the mother shark. New information indicates that there are 9 - 11 young sharks in a litter. There is no direct evidence to support these theories.

 Diet
Young Great Whites eat fish, rays and other smaller sharks. Adult Great Whites eat larger prey like sea lions, seals, small whales and dolphins, otters, and sea turtles. They will also eat the carcasses of other animals. Great White sharks have to eat about every two months.
Instinct

The Great White Shark's nostrils can smell one drop of blood in 25 gallons of water. The Great White is the only shark that pokes it's head out of the water. No one knows why but they think the shark tries to see prey.

Ecosystem

Great White Sharks live along coast lines around the world. They are usually found in temperate waters (not very hot and not very cold), but also live in other places.

Habitats 
  • Western Atlantic: Newfoundland to Florida, Bahamas, Cuba, northern Gulf of Mexico;Brazil and Argentina.
  • Eastern Atlantic: France to Mediterranean, Madeira, Canary Islands, Senegal, Ghana, Zaire; Western Cape Province, South Africa.
  • Western Indian Ocean: South Africa, Seychelles Islands, Red Sea.
  • Western Pacific: Siberia (Russia), Japan, the Koreas, China, Bonin Islands, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia (Queens land, New South Wales, Victoria,Tasmania, South and Western Australia), New Zealand, New Caledonia.
  • Central Pacific: Marshall Islands, Hawaiian Islands. Eastern Pacific: Gulf of Alaska to Gulf of California; Panama to Chile.