GREAT WHITE SHARK
Monster from the ocean
Why the Great White Shark named 'Great'?
They are world's largest living predatory fish. Mature sharks may grow up to 6.4 m in length. There also have been a few reports of great white sharks measuring over 8 m and 3,324 kg . This shark reaches its sexual maturity around 15 years of age. The lifespan of great white shark may be as long as 70 years or more. Great white sharks can accelerate to speeds over 56 km/h .Great white sharks have about 300 teeth, arranged in many rows.The first two rows of the teeth are used for grabbing and cutting the animals they eat, while the other teeth in the last rows replace the front teeth when they are broken, worn down, or when they fall out. The teeth have the shape of a triangle with jags on the edges. Great white sharks eat fish and other animals, for example seals and sea lions.
Conservation status
It is unclear how much of a concurrent increase in fishing for great white sharks has caused the decline of great white shark populations from the 1970s to the present. No accurate population numbers are available, but the great white shark is now considered vulnerable. Sharks taken during the long interval between birth and sexual maturity never reproduce, preventing population recovery.
Fishermen target many sharks for their jaws, teeth, and fins, and as game fish in general. The great white shark, however, is rarely an object of commercial fishing, although its flesh is considered valuable. If casually captured it is misleadingly sold assmooth-hound shark.
WHAT WWF IS DOING
WWF supports research and monitoring of white sharks as they migrate to and from the Gulf of California. Sharks are tagged and the movements are tracked by satellite. This information on their behavior will help with a management plan for the protected area where they are found (Guadalupe Island Biosphere Reserve), such as how to protect them from bycatch and to regulate tourism.
Intresting facts
The bestselling novel jows by Peter Benchley and the film by Steven Spielberg show the great white shark as a "ferocious human eater". In real life, humans are not the preferred food of the great white shark. However, of all shark species, the great white shark has the largest number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans.
Great white sharks live in the sea. They live near the coast, in all warm waters. They occasionally make dives into the deep water of openoceans. They can be in water as shallow as three feet deep, and as deep as 1,280 metres.