Great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
Great white sharks are widely feared as the most dangerous of man-eaters, but they are at far greater risk from us than we from them. They are responsible for about 5-10 attacks a year.
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Shark hunt
Great white predator
Planet Earth
Slow motion cameras capture the immense power and agility of a breaching great white.
Earth News
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Testing the Great White's bite
Enrico Gennari from the South Africa Marine Predator Lab demonstrates how his team measure the strength of a Great White shark's bite.
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Great whites 'plan' seal attacks
Great white sharks do not aimlessly wander the ocean waiting to stumble upon their next meal.
About the Great white shark
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. Reaching lengths of more than 6.50 metres (21 ft) and weighing up to 2,240 kilograms (4,938 lb), reaching sexual maturity at around 15 years of age and having a lifespan of 30 to over 100 years. The great white shark is arguably the world's largest known predatory fish, eating dolphins, porpoises, whale carcasses and pinnipeds such as seals, fur seals and sea lions. It is the only surviving species of its genus, Carcharodon.
The best selling novel Jaws and the subsequent film by Steven Spielberg provided the great white shark with the image of a "man eater" in the public mind even though humans are not appropriate prey for white sharks.
C.I.T.E.S. has listed the great white shark as an endangered species.
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Scientific Classification
Class: Chondrichthyes (Chondrichthyes)
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Lamnidae
Genus: Carcharodon
Species: Great white shark (carcharias)
Common Names
- White death
- White pointer
- White shark
The Great white shark is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
They can be found in the following habitats:
Conservation Status
The Great white shark is Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Unknown
Year assessed: 2000
Elsewhere on the web
- Great white shark - Carcharodon carcharias (arkive.org)
- Carcharodon carcharias (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Fishbase facts (fishbase.org)
- Florida Museum of Natural History: fact file (flmnh.ufl.edu)
- IUCN Red List information (iucnredlist.org)
- Great white shark (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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