Great white shark

The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or great white, is a large shark. It is closely related to the mako sharks, the porbeagle, and the salmon shark. It is a robustly built species with a grayish upperside and a white underside. The white shark is one of the largest living shark and fish species, being smaller than the whale shark and basking shark. It has about 300 triangular, serrated teeth that are continuously replaced. Its massive, fatty liver can reach over a quarter of its body weight and provides buoyancy and stores energy. The species is partially warm-blooded, an adaptation that allows it to remain active in colder waters.

White sharks inhabit tropical and temperate ocean waters around the world and can be found both along the coast and further out to sea. Populations are most concentrated at the Pacific and Atlantic sides of North America and in the waters of southern Africa and Oceania. They are a highly migratory species, traveling between the coast and open ocean and even between continents. The white shark preys on marine mammals such as seals and dolphins, as well as fish, including other sharks, and cephalopods. It is also a prolific scavenger of whale carcasses. Though normally an apex predator, the species is sometimes preyed on by orcas. White sharks are generally solitary, but may gather in aggregations, particularly at feeding sites. They may communicate and establish dominance hierarchies with body language. The species reproduces with pups hatching from eggs inside the female before being born live. Juvenile white sharks typically inhabit shallower water and are limited to feeding on smaller prey.

The white shark has a fearsome reputation among the public. It is featured in the 1974 novel Jaws and its 1975 film adaptation, both of which portray it as a ferocious man-eater. In reality, white sharks normally do not prey on humans and the majority of bites are due to curiosity or possibly mistaken identity. Many attempts have been made to keep the species in captivity, but specimens either ended up dying or being released. White shark aggregations have attracted tourists who may view them from boats or from inside shark cages.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the white shark as a vulnerable species globally and critically endangered regionally in European and Mediterranean waters. Major threats have included accidental catching by commercial fisheries, recreational fishing, and trapping in protective drum-lines and gillnets along beaches. Several governments have enacted protections for the species, including bans on catching and killing it.