Sea storm, White death, a ruthless killer - as they called this powerful and ancient creature that survived the dinosaurs. His name is big White shark . A more perfect organism simply does not exist in nature.

Description and features of the great white shark

Great white shark (Carcharodon)- one of the largest predators on the planet. It has rightfully earned its notoriety as a man-eating shark: there are a great many recorded cases of attacks on people.

It’s hard to call it a fish, but it really is: the white shark belongs to the class of cartilaginous fish. The term “shark” comes from the language of the Vikings; they used the word “hackall” to describe absolutely any fish.

Nature has generously endowed the white shark: its appearance has not changed over the millions of years that it has lived on the planet. The mega-fish is even larger in size, sometimes reaching 10 m. Great white shark length, according to ichthyologists, can exceed 12 meters.

However, there are only scientific hypotheses about the existence of such giants, biggest white shark, captured in 1945, was 6.4 m long and weighed about 3 tons. Maybe, the biggest in the world of unprecedented size, has never been caught, and dissects the expanses of water at a depth inaccessible to humans.

At the end of the Tertiary period, and by the standards of the Earth this is relatively recent, the ancestors of the white shark, megalodons, lived in the vast depths of the ocean. These monsters reached a length of 30 m (the height of a 10-story building), and their mouths could comfortably accommodate 8 adult men.

Today, the great white shark is the only surviving species of its numerous genus. Others went extinct along with dinosaurs, mammoths and other ancient animals.

Top part The body of this unsurpassed predator is colored in a grayish-brown tones, and the saturation can vary: from whitish to almost black.

The length of a great white shark can exceed 6 meters

It depends on the habitat. The belly is white, which is why the shark got its name. The line between the gray back and white belly cannot be called smooth and smooth. It is rather broken or torn.

This coloring perfectly camouflages in the water column: from a side perspective, its outlines become smooth and almost invisible; when viewed from above, the darker back blends with the shadows and bottom landscape.

The skeleton of a great white shark does not have bone tissue, and all consists of cartilage. The streamlined body with a cone-shaped head is covered with reliable and dense scales, similar in structure and hardness to shark teeth.

These scales are often referred to as “dermal denticles.” In some cases, it is impossible to pierce a shark's shell even with a knife, and if you stroke it against the grain, deep cuts will remain.

The white shark's body shape is ideal for swimming and chasing prey. A special fatty secretion secreted by the skin also helps to minimize resistance. It can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h, and this is not in the air, but in thick salt water!

Her movements are graceful and majestic, as if she is gliding through the water without making any effort at all. This giant can easily make 3-meter jumps over the surface of the water; it must be said that the spectacle is mesmerizing.

The great white shark does not have an air bladder to keep it afloat, and in order not to sink, it must constantly use its fins.

Good buoyancy is helped by the huge size of the liver and the low density of cartilage. The predator's blood pressure is weak and in order to stimulate blood flow, she also has to constantly move, thereby helping the heart muscle.

Looking at photo of great white shark, with its mouth wide open, you feel awe and horror, and goosebumps run down your skin. And this is not surprising, because it is difficult to imagine a more perfect tool for murder.

Teeth located in 3-5 rows, and white shark they are constantly updated. In place of a broken or fallen tooth, a new one from the reserve row immediately grows. The average number of teeth in the oral cavity is about 300, the length is over 5 cm.

The structure of the teeth is as well thought out as everything else. They have a pointed shape and serrations, making it easy to tear huge pieces of meat from their unfortunate victim.

Shark teeth are practically devoid of roots and fall out quite easily. No, this is not a mistake of nature, rather the opposite: a tooth stuck in the body of the prey deprives the predator of the opportunity to open its mouth to ventilate the gill apparatus, the fish simply risks suffocating.

In this situation, it is better to lose a tooth than to lose your life. By the way, during its life a great white shark replaces about 30 thousand teeth. Interestingly, the jaw of a white shark, squeezing its prey, exerts pressure on it up to 2 tons per cm².

A white shark has about 300 teeth in its mouth

Lifestyle and habitat of the great white shark

In most cases, white sharks are loners. They are territorial, however, they show respect for their larger brothers, allowing them to hunt in their waters. Social behavior y is a rather complex and poorly studied issue.

Sometimes they are loyal to others sharing their meals, sometimes it’s the opposite. In the second option, they show their displeasure by baring their mouths, but they rarely physically punish the uninvited guest.

The great white shark is found in the shelf zone near the coasts almost all over the world, excluding the northern regions. This species is thermophilic: the optimal water temperature for them is 12-24°C. The concentration of salt is also an important factor; in the Black Sea it is not sufficient and these fish are not found there.

Great white shark lives off the coast of Mexico, California, New Zealand. Large populations are observed near Mauritius, Kenya, Seychelles, and Guadeloupe Island. These predators are prone to seasonal migrations and can cover distances of thousands of kilometers.

Great white shark nutrition

The great white shark is a cold-blooded, calculating predator. She attacks sea lions, sea lions,... In addition to large animals, sharks feed on tuna and quite often carrion.

The great white shark does not hesitate to hunt other, smaller species of its own kind, as well as. On the latter, they ambush and attack from behind, depriving the victim of the ability to use echolocation.

Nature has made the shark an ideal killer: its vision is 10 times better than that of a human, and its inner ear detects low frequencies and sounds in the infra range.

A predator's sense of smell is unique: a shark is able to smell blood in a 1:1,000,000 mixture, which corresponds to 1 teaspoon in a large swimming pool. The attack of a white shark is lightning fast: less than a second passes from the moment the mouth opens to the final closure of the jaws.

Having sunk its razor-like teeth into the victim's body, the shark shakes its head, tearing off large chunks of flesh. At one time she can swallow up to 13 kg of meat. The jaws of the bloodthirsty predator are so strong that they can easily bite large bones, or even entire prey in half.

The shark's stomach is large and elastic, it can hold a colossal amount of food. It happens that of hydrochloric acid there is not enough for digestion, then the fish turns it inside out, getting rid of the excess. Surprisingly, the walls of the stomach are not injured by the sharp triangular teeth of this powerful creature.

Great white shark attacks per person do happen, mainly divers and surfers suffer from this. People are not part of their diet, rather the predator attacks by mistake, mistaking the surfboard for an elephant seal or seal.

Another explanation for such aggression is an invasion of personal space, the territory where she is used to hunting. Interestingly, she rarely eats human flesh, more often she spits it out, realizing that she was mistaken.

Dimensions and the characteristics of the body do not give victims great white shark not the slightest chance of salvation. In fact, among the ocean depths it has no worthy competition.

Reproduction and lifespan

Individuals less than 4 m in length, most likely immature juveniles. Female sharks can become pregnant no earlier than 12-14 years old. Males mature a little earlier - at 10. Great white sharks reproduce by ovoviviparity.

This method is unique to cartilaginous fish species. Pregnancy lasts about 11 months, then several babies hatch in the mother's womb. The strongest eat the weak while still inside.

2-3 completely independent baby sharks are born. According to statistics, 2/3 of them do not live to see a year, becoming victims of adult fish and even their own mother.

Due to long gestation, low productivity and late maturation, the number of white sharks is steadily declining. No more than 4,500 individuals live in the world's oceans.

Bloodthirsty and huge monsters of the ocean - this is the image of the shark, replicated by cinema and literature. How much does a shark weigh and are these representatives of the ocean fauna really that dangerous?

Sharks - inhabitants of the deep sea

The name is a collective image. A common person I immediately imagine a fish from a horror movie. But sharks are a superorder of cartilaginous fish, which includes about 450 species. The features of these animals are a torpedo-shaped body, a large heterocercal fin on the back, and many teeth on both jaws. Among sharks there are both exceptional predators and peace-loving plankton eaters. Sharks vary in size, body length varies from 17 centimeters to 20 meters. How much does a shark weigh? It depends on its size. Representatives of this superorder live mainly in the salty waters of the seas and oceans, but there are also those that live in fresh waters. We will get acquainted with exceptionally large species and find out how much the largest one weighs. big shark.

1st place: whale shark

That’s why she’s called that, because she’s the biggest among her friends. Representatives of the species live in northern and southern seas. And it is the northern ones that are much larger. Whale sharks reach a body length of up to 20 meters and weigh up to 20 tons. The specimen, caught in 1949 near Baba Island, was 12.5 meters long and weighed 20 tons. It is a gray-brown giant with white spots that have a unique arrangement for each individual. These sharks live for about 70 years, and what is most surprising is that they are filter feeders. This means that they feed by straining water and filtering out plankton. In one day, such a fish pumps 350 tons of water and eats 200 kilograms of plankton. A whale shark's mouth can fit up to 5 people; its jaws are covered with 15 thousand small teeth. However, she herself never attacks people, and many scuba divers even manage to touch her. Whale sharks are slow and little studied. Their numbers are quite small, so the species is listed in the Red Book.

2nd place: elephant shark

The elephant shark shares the lead in size with the whale shark. This is a fish up to 15 meters in length and weighing up to 6 tons. A species that is on the verge of extinction. The shark really looks like an elephant with sunken cheeks due to its wide open mouth with a diameter of up to 3 meters and with many small teeth. The huge size (another name for this shark is giant) makes the fish inactive. They are also filter feeders, but unlike cetaceans they live in schools. Approaching such a school is dangerous: a swing of the tail can easily kill a scuba diver.

3rd place: white shark

The next shark in our ranking is a representative of the most dangerous animals on the planet - the white shark. This is exactly the monster from horror films. Over the 30 years of its life, it grows up to 6.5 meters in length, and 300 sharp teeth arranged in three rows are renewed every three months. The shark itself gray, but her belly is white. It is an exceptional predator: its diet includes both fish and marine mammals. Representatives of the species live in all oceans, with the exception of the Arctic Ocean. The largest number of cases of attacks on humans belongs to these predators of the deep. How much a great white shark weighs is a controversial issue. The recorded case was a shark 6.4 meters long and weighing 3 tons. It was caught in 1945 and is the largest white shark so far.

4th place: tiger shark

The most widespread representative of sharks in the world's oceans. It got its name from the dark stripes on its body. A predator who does not hesitate to attack a person. In the West Indies, it is considered the most dangerous representative of marine life. How much does a tiger shark weigh? According to statistics, up to 1.5 tons with a body length of up to 5.5 meters. With such a size, it can hunt at a depth of up to 3 meters and, surprisingly, does not live in captivity. This is a dangerous omnivorous predator. What have they not found in the stomachs of tiger sharks? These include car license plates, household items, and even a chicken coop with the bones and feathers of its inhabitants (there was a precedent)!

5th place: polar shark

The size of this representative of the genus is not so large compared to the leaders of the rating: body length is up to 5 meters, weight is about 1 ton. These active predators live in the northern seas and the Arctic Ocean. Another name is Greenland or ice. A deep-sea species, a large proportion of their diet consists of octopuses. The meat of this shark is saturated with ammonia due to the lack of a urinary system. But the Icelanders' favorite dish is “hákarl” - rotten ice shark meat. Interestingly, during a radiological study of the eye lens, scientists discovered that a 5-meter-long shark is between 270 and 512 years old. Today they are the longest-lived due to low metabolism.

The biggest shark has gone extinct

Paleontologists unveil fossils of extinct ancestor modern sharks- megalodon, the largest predator of all time. Megalodon lived 23-25 ​​million years ago. Its size can be judged from fossilized teeth and several vertebrae. The estimated length of this predator is up to 12 meters. How much the megalodon shark weighs, of course, we know purely theoretically. But calculations show 42 tons.

Features of shark growth

Like all fish, sharks grow throughout their lives. For example, it has been proven that the ice shark grows on average 1 centimeter per year. These studies have not been carried out on other representatives, and we have yet to study this area. Sharks do not live long in captivity - that's a fact. That is why their study advanced only with the development of radio-electronic methods. Ichthyologists and oceanologists are only accumulating research data about the life of these amazing predators. But thanks to existing research, we can find out how much a tiger, white or whale shark weighs.

So now we know the giants of modern times among sharks. But numerous, albeit officially unconfirmed, data indicate that the sailors saw more major representatives shark And some scientists claim that megalodons still swim in the uncharted depths of the seas and oceans. We'll probably never know how much the world's largest shark weighs because we haven't caught it yet.

intermediate ranks

International scientific name

Carcharodon carcharias Linnaeus,

Area Security status

Taxonomy on Wikispecies

Images on Wikimedia Commons

ITIS NCBI EOL

Taxonomy and origin

Much remains unclear about the evolutionary relationships of the white shark and other living and extinct species of herring sharks. The ancestor of this group was probably Isurolamna inflata, which lived approximately 65 - 55 million years ago and had small narrow teeth with a smooth edge and two lateral denticles. In this family, there is a tendency towards enlargement, broadening and serration of teeth during evolution (the transition from grasping function to cutting and tearing), which led to characteristic appearance teeth of a modern white shark.

Distribution and habitats

Area

The white shark lives throughout the ocean, preferring areas of the temperate coastline, continental and island shelves, usually closer to the surface of the water. Some large specimens also appear in tropical waters. It also sometimes makes spontaneous movements to the area of ​​cold seas - the species has been recorded off the coast of Canada and Alaska. Large individuals are capable of regularly making long ocean voyages. It can also be located at a decent depth - a case was recorded of catching a white shark at 1280 meters using bottom fishing gear along with a sixgill shark. Observations show that at least large individuals tolerate a fairly wide range of temperatures environment- from cold seas and the ocean floor to the tropical coast. At the same time, smaller individuals (less than 3 m) are more common in temperate latitudes.

Habitat areas

The main centers of white shark aggregation are the coastal waters of American California and Mexican Baja California, Australia and New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa and, once, the Mediterranean. It can be found in the East Coast of the USA, off the coast of Cuba, the Bahamas, Argentina, Brazil; in the Eastern Atlantic - from France to South Africa; in the Indian Ocean appears in the Red Sea, off the coast of Seychelles, as well as off Reunion Island and in the waters of Mauritius; in the Pacific Ocean - from the Far East to New Zealand and the west coast of America.

Migrations

Anatomy and appearance

The white shark has a strong, large, conical head. The width in the upper lobe and in the lower lobe (at the tail) is the same (as in most herring sharks). The white shark has a protective coloration: it is white on the underside and gray on the back (sometimes with a brown or blue tint), giving the impression of mottled coloring, which makes the shark difficult to spot because its body visually breaks up when viewed from the side. When viewed from above, the dark shadow dissolves into the thickness of the sea, and when viewed from below, the silhouette of the shark is barely noticeable against the background of the light. White sharks, like many others, have three rows of teeth. The teeth are serrated, and when the shark bites and shakes its head from side to side, the teeth cut and tear off pieces of flesh like a saw.

Dimensions

Typical size adult white shark 5-6 meters with a mass of 600-3000 kg. Females are usually larger than males. Maximum size The white shark is a hotly debated topic. Richard Ellis and John E. McCosker, recognized scientific experts on sharks, devote an entire chapter to this issue in their book The Great White Shark (1991), in which they analyze various reports of maximum sizes.

For several decades, many works of ichthyology, as well as the Book of Records, cited two specimens as the largest: a 6.9 m long shark caught in southern Australian waters near Port Fairy in the 1870s, and a 7.3 m long shark. caught in a herring trap at a dam in New Brunswick, Canada in 1930. Reports of the capture of specimens measuring 7.5 meters in length were common, but the above sizes remained a record.

Some researchers have questioned the validity of the measurements in both cases, since these results were significantly larger than any other results obtained by precise measurements. The New Brunswick shark may have been a basking shark rather than a great white, as both sharks have a similar body shape. The question of the size of the Port Fairy shark was clarified in the 1970s when G.I. I. Reynolds examined the shark's mouth and found that the Port Fairy shark was about 5 meters in length. He suggested that an error had been made in the original measurement in 1870.

Ellis and McCosker determined the size largest specimen, the length of which was reliably measured at 6.4 meters, which was caught in Cuban waters in 1945. However, even in this case, there are experts who argue that the shark was actually several feet shorter. The unconfirmed weight of this Cuban shark is 3270 kg.

Nutrition

Young sharks feeding small fish, tuna. Grown-up sharks switch to feeding on seals and do not shy away from the carcasses of dead whales. Their light coloration makes them less noticeable against the background of underwater rocks when they are stalking prey. Their high body temperature makes them faster and smarter than most sharks, which is essential when hunting seals. Fatty foods are needed to maintain a high temperature. The blood vessels that send blood to the skin transfer heat to the blood vessels that send blood to the skin. reverse side to reduce heat loss. The white shark first attacks seals horizontally, like fish, but then changes its habit and attacks from below so that the prey does not notice it until the last moment. Sometimes a shark mistakes people for seals and attacks, but when they feel bones in their teeth instead of seal fat, they let them go. And since these predators usually swim in a school, there may be several bites. When attacking, it rolls its eyes to protect them from the claws of its victims.

Reproduction

Notes

1. Reshetnikov Yu. S., Kotlyar A. N., Rass T. S., Shatunovsky M. I. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Fish. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / under the general editorship of academician. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. lang., 1989. - P. 23. - 12,500 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00237-0
2. Great White Sharks are now more endangered than tigers with just 3,500 left in the oceans | Mail Online
3. Carol Martins & Craig Knickle WHITE SHARK (English) . Education. Florida Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
4. Jim Bourdon Carcharodon (English). The Life and Times of Long Dead Sharks(2009). Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
5. R. Aidan Martin Fossil History of the White Shark (English). ReefQuest Center for Shark Research. Archived from the original on February 27, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
6. Compagno L.J.V. Part 2 - Carcharhiniformes // Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalog of shark species known to date / Pere Oliver. - Rome: FAO, 2001. - Vol. 2. Bullhead, mackerel and carpet sharks (Heterodontiformes, Lamniformes and Orectolobiformes). - P. 100-107. - 269 p. - (FAO Species Catalog for Fishery Purposes). - ISBN 92-5-104543-7
7. Ramón Bonfil; Michael Meÿer, Michael C. Scholl, Ryan Johnson, Shannon O'Brien, Herman Oosthuizen, Stephan Swanson, Deon Kotze and Michael Paterson2

The great white shark, the heroine of P. Benchley's novel Jaws and the film of the same name, has a bad reputation as a cannibal. Yes, this is the world's largest predatory fish and an excellent hunter. But is she as bloodthirsty towards people as we are shown in various films?

In Australia it is called the “white death”, but you can encounter it not only here, but in almost all coastal waters of the main oceans, except the Arctic. She has chosen both cold temperate and warm tropical waters.

Small colonies of white sharks are periodically found off the southern coast of Australia, off the coast of California and South Africa, in the Red Sea, in the central part of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of New Zealand, in the Caribbean Sea, near Madagascar, Kenya, the Seychelles and the coast of Mauritius. These, of course, are not all the places where you can accidentally encounter this formidable mistress of the seas and oceans.

Habitat of the great white shark

But still, ichthyologists managed to find a couple of places beloved by white sharks. The first is near Hawaii, where they are found in hundreds. Scientists have nicknamed this place “White Shark Cafe.” It is a great place to observe and study the life of these animals. And the second is the coastal waters of Dyer Island (South Africa).

From time to time, great white sharks migrate. There are 2 main routes: the first runs from Baja California (Mexico) to the White Shark Cafe (White Shark Cafe) and back, and the second from the coast of South Africa to the southern coast of Australia. So far, none of the scientists can say for sure what causes such annual migrations.

The shark spends most of its time in the upper layer of water. But sometimes it can dive to depths of up to 1000 meters.

Great white shark has a close characteristic features, which distinguish it from other species. Firstly, its size. The average length of an adult is 2.5-3.5 meters; there are larger specimens - up to 5-6 meters. Some argue that this is not the limit and white sharks can grow up to 7 meters, but no reliable facts have been found about this. The largest specimen caught on this moment The shark is believed to be 6.4 meters long, caught in 1945 in Cuban waters. A 5-6 meter shark can weigh from 700 kg to 2.5 tons.

Secondly, protective painting. The shark's back and head are dark gray. This allows it to remain undetected by prey swimming above, as its dark shadow disappears into the deep blue water. The lower part of the oblong body is light. When I look at the shark from below, I understand that its light belly allows it to “get lost” at the surface of the water against the background of the light sky.

Gray back and white belly

Thirdly, body shape. The white shark has a large conical head. Large pectoral fins aid in holding powerful body afloat.

And fourthly, its powerful jaws with huge teeth, which are the ideal murder weapon. The pressure force with which a shark compresses its jaws is almost several tons per 1 cm2. This allows the predator to easily bite large animals in half or bite off any part of the human body.

Shark smile

Like many sharks, its teeth are arranged in 3 rows. Each tooth is equipped with serrations that serve as a kind of saw when tearing pieces of meat from the body of prey. If the front teeth are lost, they are quickly replaced by the back ones.

White shark tooth with jagged edge

White sharks also became famous for their keen sense of smell and complete indiscriminateness in food. Special sensory organs on the nose (“ampoules of Laurence”) allow them to capture and recognize the slightest electrical impulses and odors over long distances, and this primarily concerns the smell of blood. They can smell 1 drop of blood in 100 liters of water. Therefore, when hunting, sharks rely solely on their instincts. But their vision is poor.

In principle, white sharks attack people only in very rare cases. The main reason for this is lack of food. These are fish, tuna, seals, squid, sea lions, other sharks and dolphins. Hungry sharks become very aggressive and are ready to rush at any object they see or feel, be it a person or various waste. While searching for prey, they can get very close to the shore.

Their favorite “dish” are fat sea lions, seals or big fish. Fatty foods provide them with energy and help maintain a high body temperature. These sharks cannot be called voracious either. Due to the special structure of their stomach (they have a “spare” stomach), they do not eat every day.

White shark attack tactics are varied. It all depends on what the shark has on his mind. These formidable predators are very curious animals. The only way For her, studying her object of curiosity means trying it out. Scientists call such bites “research.” They are most often obtained by surfers or divers floating on the surface, whom the shark, due to its poor eyesight, mistakes for seals or sea lions. Having made sure that this “bony prey” is not a seal, the shark can lag behind the person, if it is not too hungry, of course.

A great white shark attacks with a lightning-fast lunge from below. At this moment, she tries to inflict a powerful bite on the victim, which gives little chance of survival. Then the huntress set sail short distance so that the victim, in attacks of defense, would not be able to injure her muzzle, bleed a little and become weak.

Female white sharks give birth to two pups. In this species, as in some others, a common phenomenon is cainism, when stronger and more developed young eat their less developed “brothers and sisters.” In sharks, this happens even inside the female, when 2 more developed cubs begin to eat all the other sharks and unfertilized eggs.

Curiosity is not a vice

According to official statistics Every year from 80 to 110 people are attacked by sharks (considered total recorded attacks of all types of sharks), of which 1 to 17 were fatal. If we make a comparison, people kill about 100 million sharks every year. And which of them should be called a dangerous predator?

The great white shark is known to many as the man-eating shark, or carcharodon. This animal belongs to the class of cartilaginous fish and the herring shark family. Today, the population of this species slightly exceeds three thousand individuals, so the great white shark belongs to the category of predatory animals that are on the verge of extinction.

Description and characteristics of the white shark

The largest of all modern predatory sharks is eleven meters or a little more in length. The most common individuals are those with a body length of no more than six meters and a weight in the range of 650-3000 kg. The back and sides of the white shark have a characteristic gray coloration with slight brownish or black tones. The surface of the ventral part is dirty white.

This is interesting! It is known that relatively recently white sharks existed, whose body length could reach thirty meters. Eight adults could easily fit in the mouth of such an individual, living at the end of the Tertiary period.

Modern white sharks lead a predominantly solitary lifestyle. Adult individuals can be found not only in the waters of the open ocean, but also near the coastline. As a rule, the shark tries to stay close to the surface and prefers warm or moderately warm ocean waters. The white shark destroys prey with the help of very large and wide, triangular teeth. All teeth have jagged edges. Very powerful jaws allow the aquatic predator to effortlessly bite through not only cartilaginous tissue, but also fairly large bones of its prey. Hungry white sharks are not particularly picky about their food choices.

Features of the morphology of the white shark:

• the large cone-shaped head has a pair of eyes, a pair of nostrils and a fairly large mouth;
• There are small grooves around the nostrils that increase the speed of water inflow and improve the predator’s sense of smell;
• pressure power indicators of large jaws reach eighteen thousand newtons;
• the teeth located in five rows change regularly, but their total number varies within three hundred;
• behind the head of the predator there are five gill slits;
• two large pectoral fins and a fleshy anterior dorsal fin. They are supplemented by relatively small second dorsal, pelvic and anal fins;
• the fin located in the tail is large;
• The predator's circulatory system is well developed and is capable of quickly warming up muscle tissue, increasing the speed of movement and improving the mobility of a large body.

This is interesting! The great white shark does not have a swim bladder, so it has negative buoyancy, and to prevent sinking to the bottom, the fish must constantly make swimming movements.

A peculiarity of the species is the unusual structure of the eyes, which allows the predator to see prey even in the dark. A special organ of a shark is the lateral line, thanks to which the slightest disturbance in the water is detected even at a distance of a hundred meters or more.

Habitat and distribution in nature

The white shark's habitat is many coastal waters of the World Ocean.. This predator is found almost everywhere except the Arctic Ocean and further along the southern coast of Australia and South Africa.

The largest number of individuals hunt in the coastal zone of California, as well as in close proximity to the island of Guadalupe in Mexico. Also, a small population of great white sharks lives near Italy and Croatia, and off the coastline of New Zealand. Here, small flocks are classified as protected species.

A significant number of white sharks have chosen the waters near Dyer Island, which has allowed scientists to successfully conduct numerous Scientific research. Also, fairly large populations of great white sharks have been found near the following areas:

• Mauritius;
• Madagascar;
• Kenya;
• Seychelles;
• Australia;
• New Zealand.

In general, the predator is relatively unpretentious in its habitat, so migration is focused on areas with the largest number prey and optimal conditions for reproduction. Epipelagic fish are able to choose coastal sea areas with a large number of seals, sea lions, whales and other species of small sharks or large bony fish. Only very large killer whales can resist this “mistress” of the ocean space.

Lifestyle and behavioral characteristics

Behavior and social structure At present, white sharks have not been sufficiently studied. It is known for certain that the population living in waters close to South Africa is characterized by hierarchical dominance in accordance with the sex, size and residence of individuals. The dominance of females over males, and the largest individuals over smaller sharks predominates. Conflict situations during the hunting process are resolved by rituals or demonstrative behavior. Fights between individuals of the same population are certainly possible, but they are quite rare. As a rule, sharks of this species in conflicts limit themselves to not too strong, warning bites.

A distinctive feature of the white shark is the ability to periodically raise its head above the water surface in the process of hunting and searching for prey. According to scientists, in this way the shark manages to capture odors well even at a considerable distance.

This is interesting! Predators enter the waters of the coastal zone, as a rule, in stable or long-formed groups, including from two to six individuals, which is similar to wolf pack. Each such group has a so-called alpha leader, and the remaining individuals within the “pack” have a clearly established status in accordance with the hierarchy.

Great white sharks are distinguished by fairly well-developed mental abilities and intelligence, which allows them to find food in almost any, even the most difficult, conditions.

Feeding of an aquatic predator

Young carcharadons use small bony fish, small marine animals and small mammals as their main diet. Sufficiently grown and fully formed great white sharks expand their diet to include larger prey, which can include seals, sea lions, and large fish. Adult carcharadons will not refuse such prey as smaller species of sharks, cephalopods and other most nutritious marine life.

For successful hunting, great white sharks use a unique body color. A. The light coloring makes the shark almost invisible among underwater rocky places, which allows it to track its prey very easily. Particularly interesting is the moment of the great white shark attack. Thanks to high temperature body, the predator is capable of developing quite decent speed, and good strategic abilities allow Carcharadons to use win-win tactics when hunting aquatic inhabitants.

Important! Possessing massive body, with very powerful jaws and sharp teeth, the great white shark has almost no competitors among aquatic predators and is capable of hunting almost any prey.

The main food preferences of the great white shark are seals and other marine animals, including dolphins and small species of whales. Use significant amount fatty foods allows this predator to maintain optimal energy balance. Heating muscle mass circulatory system needs a diet of high-calorie foods.

Of particular interest is Carcharodon's hunt for seals. Sliding horizontally in the water column, the white shark pretends not to notice the animal swimming on the surface, but as soon as the seal loses its vigilance, the shark attacks the prey, jumping sharply and almost with lightning speed from the water. When hunting, a great white shark ambushes and attacks from behind, which does not allow the dolphin to use its unique ability - echo location.