The great white shark is an exceptionally large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Reaching lengths of about 6 metres (20 ft) and weighing up to 2,250 kilograms (5,000 lb), the great white shark is the world's largest known predatory fish.
Great white sharks live in almost all coastal and offshore waters which have a water temperature of between 12 and 24° C (54° to 75° F), with greater concentrations off the southern coasts of Australia, off South Africa, California, Mexico's Isla Guadalupe and to a degree in the Central Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. One of the densest known populations is found around Dyer Island, South Africa where much research on the shark is conducted. It can be also found in tropical waters like those of the Caribbean and has been recorded off Mauritius.
It is a pelagic fish, but recorded or observed mostly in coastal waters in the presence of rich game like fur seals, sea lions, cetaceans, other sharks and large bony fish species. It is considered an open-ocean dweller and is recorded from the surface down to depths of 1,280 m (4,199 ft), but is most often found close to the surface.
The great white shark has a robust large conical-shaped snout. It has almost the same size upper and lower lobes on the tail fin (like most mackerel sharks, but unlike most other sharks).
Great white sharks display countershading, having a white underside and a grey dorsal area (sometimes in a brownish or bluish shade) that gives an overall "mottled" appearance.
A typical adult great white shark measures 4 to 4.8 m (13 to 16 ft) with a typical weight of 680 to 1,100 kg (1,500 to 2,450 lb), females generally being larger than males. The maximum size of the great white shark has been subject to much debate, conjecture, and misinformation. Today, most experts contend that the great white shark's "normal" maximum size is about 6 m (20 ft), with a "normal" maximum weight of about 1,900 kg (4,189 lb).
Great white sharks are carnivorous, and primarily eat fish (including rays, tuna, and smaller sharks), dolphins, porpoises, whale carcasses and pinnipeds such as seals and sea lions. Sea otters and sea turtles are also taken at times. Great whites have also been known to eat objects that they are unable to digest. In great white sharks above 3.41 metres (11 ft, 2 in) a diet consisting of a higher proportion of mammals has been observed.[10] These sharks prefer prey with high contents of energy-rich fat. Shark expert Peter Klimley used a rod-and-reel rig and trolled carcasses of a seal, a pig, and a sheep to his boat in the South Farallons. The sharks attacked all three baits but rejected the lower fat content sheep carcass.
The Great White Shark goes by other names such as white pointer, white shark, white death.
