intermediate ranks
Carcharodon carcharias Linnaeus,
| Taxonomy on Wikispecies |
Images on Wikimedia Commons |
|
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 environmental temperatures - from cold seas and the ocean floor to tropical coasts. 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. The maximum size of a 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 through 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
- 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
- Great White Sharks are now more endangered than tigers with just 3,500 left in the oceans | Mail Online
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Ramón Bonfil; Michael Meÿer, Michael C. Scholl, Ryan Johnson, Shannon O'Brien, Herman Oosthuizen, Stephan Swanson, Deon Kotze and Michael Paterson2
From this article you will learn how long do sharks live. Sharks are one of the most interesting ocean representatives. They have inhabited the depths of the sea for more than five hundred (500) million years.
Instant reply: currently there are about one hundred ( 100 ) shark species. Different representatives of these creatures differ in life expectancy. Long-lived sharks can live over 80 years(for example, a whale shark).
How long do sharks live - in detail by species
Sharks are ancient representatives of our planet. The fact is that these animals inhabited the Earth more than 450 million years ago. Some varieties have hardly changed over such a huge period of existence.
- Centenarians- polar sharks. Their age can exceed one hundred years, and according to scientific research - even 200. This is due to an incredibly weak metabolism. Researchers believe that this is one of the longest-living animals on our planet to date.
- Lifespan of a whale shark - up to 75 years.
- The lifespan of a basking shark is approximately 50 years.
- The white shark lives much shorter - up to 30 years.
- Very rare species- a largemouth shark can survive up to 50 years, and its long-livers are up to one hundred years. But this cannot be confirmed in any way, since since its discovery in 1976, only a couple of dozen representatives of this species have been identified.
- Life expectancy is enormous hammerhead shark sometimes it can be about 50 years.
- The Mako shark is one of the most hot-tempered and evil species sharks Its maximum lifespan may be slightly longer 30 years for females and slightly less for males.
How long do sharks live - Polar
Not long ago, ichthyologists noticed an amazing feature according to which those living in colder water live longer among sharks.
This applies specifically to polar sharks. They believe that for them the indicator is a hundred years is not the limit at all, and such representatives of sharks are able to live longer. Exactly how many is not yet clear due to the difficulty of identifying ages.
Arctic sharks have an incredibly slow metabolism, they seem to live in a dream, which is why they are called sleepy sharks.
Second position occupied by large species of sharks, which is natural, because for all living things one can notice this law: larger types live longer than small ones. They need more time to grow. In the tropics, the average lifespan of sharks is up to 30 years, and in middle latitudes - up to 45 years.
How long do white sharks live?
Researchers recently concluded that white sharks can live much longer than previously thought. Taking advantage the latest technology By clearly determining the age of shark tissue, researchers were able to identify a male white shark who lived up to 70 years old.
According to scientists, such a discovery is incredibly important for animal protection, since data on the lifespan of the type, the speed of its development and the time it reaches puberty will help create programs for the conservation of the species.
Previously, researchers tried to determine the age of a predator by counting growth rings in tissue (for example, in a vertebra). But the shark skeleton contains cartilage, and the division between the rings is difficult to discern even with a microscope.
Currently, researchers have been fortunate to identify a radioactive marker in certain rings.
This marker is an isotope that fell into the ocean simultaneously with sediment after testing atomic bomb in the 60s. It settled in the tissues of animals that lived at that time.
The researchers used traces of radioactive carbon in the form of some kind of stamp, with which they can calculate and calibrate the tissue layers in order to then more accurately determine the age of the samples obtained.
Past considerations of animal remains from the Indian and Pacific Oceans led researchers to believe that white sharks live for about 30 years.
But the radioactive marker significantly increased this indicator: the largest male lived 73 years old, and the female − 42 . All animals lived in Atlantic Ocean, but scientists do not believe that there is any significant difference in the life expectancy of sharks from other oceans.
If the hypothesis that the average lifespan of a white shark is 70 years, will be confirmed, it will be possible to call this species one of the most long-lived types of cartilaginous fish. But at the same time, the white shark is one of the most vulnerable inhabitants of nature, since it is one of the main hunting items.
And if sexual maturity in such sharks occurs very slowly, then it will be quite difficult for them to restore their numbers after any significant damage.
In addition, as scientists have already learned, white sharks are far from the most prolific of the great variety of cartilaginous fish - the female is capable of producing only a couple of cubs in the litter(researchers still have not figured out how many times a female white shark can give birth during her life).
I hope you liked this article - How long do sharks live?, from the section - , personally, after editing, I read it instantly. If you have something to say, write in the comments.
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. The average person immediately imagines a fish from horror films. 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 shark weighs.
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. Largest quantity cases of attacks on humans belong precisely 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 she is considered the most dangerous representative sea creatures. 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 have presented fossils of the extinct ancestor of 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.
Sea storm, White death, a ruthless killer - as soon as they called this powerful and ancient creature, outlived the dinosaurs. His name is great 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 enormous amounts 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.
Original taken from masterok in Flight of the Great White Shark
What have we already read about sharks:
Now let's study probably the most famous and bloodthirsty shark.
Great white shark (lat. Carcharodon carcharias)- also known as the white shark, white death, man-eating shark, carcharodon - an exceptionally large predatory fish found in the surface coastal waters of all oceans of the Earth except the Arctic.
This predator owes its name to the white color of the abdominal part of the body, separated by a broken border on the sides from the dark back. Reaching a length of over 7 meters and a mass of over 3,000 kg, the great white shark is the largest modern predatory fish (not counting the plankton-eating whale and basking sharks).
In addition to its very large size, the great white shark has also acquired a notorious reputation as a merciless cannibal due to numerous attacks on swimmers, divers and surfers. A person has much less chance of surviving an attack by a man-eating shark than under the wheels of a truck. A powerful moving body, a huge mouth armed with sharp teeth and a passion for satisfying the hunger of this predator will leave the victim no hope of salvation if the shark is determined to profit from human flesh.
The great white shark is the only surviving species of its genus Carcharodon.
It is on the verge of extinction - there are only about 3,500 specimens left on Earth.
The first scientific name, Squalus carcharias, was given to the great white shark by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
Zoologist E. Smith in 1833 assigned the generic name Carcharodon (Greek karcharos sharp + Greek odous - tooth). The final modern scientific name of the species came into being in 1873, when the Linnaean species name was combined with the genus name under one term, Carcharodon carcharias.
The great white belongs to the herring shark family (Lamnidae), which includes four other species of marine predators: the mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), the longfin mako shark (Longfin mako), the Pacific salmon shark (Lamna ditropis) and the Atlantic herring shark (Lamna nasus).
The similarity in the structure and shape of the teeth, as well as the large size of the great white shark and the prehistoric megalodon, has led most scientists to consider them closely related species. This assumption is reflected in the scientific name of the latter - Carcharodon megalodon.
Currently, some scientists have expressed doubts about the close relationship of Carcharadon and Megalodon, considering them to be distant relatives belonging to the family of herring sharks, but not so closely related. Recent research suggests that the white shark is closer to the mako shark than to the megalodon. According to the theory put forward, the true ancestor of the great white shark is Isurus hastalis, while megalodons are directly related to sharks of the species Carcharocle. According to the same theory, Otodus obliquus is considered a representative of the ancient extinct branch of Carcharocles megalodon olnius.
Fossil tooth
The great white shark lives throughout the world in coastal waters of the continental shelf, the temperature of which ranges from 12 to 24 degrees Celsius. In colder waters, great white sharks are almost never found. They also do not live in desalinated and slightly salted seas. For example, they were not found in our Black Sea, which is too fresh for them. In addition, there is not enough food in the Black Sea for such a large predator as the great white shark.
The habitat of the great white shark covers many coastal waters of the warm and temperate seas of the World Ocean. The above map shows that it can be found anywhere in the middle ocean belt of the planet, except, of course, the Arctic Ocean.
In the south they are not found further than the southern coast of Australia and the coast of South Africa. Great white sharks are most likely to be found off the coast of California, near the Mexican island of Guadalupe. Individual populations live in the central part of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas (Italy, Croatia), off the coast of New Zealand, where they are protected species.
Great white sharks often swim in small schools.
One of the most significant populations fell in love with Dyer Island (South Africa), which is the site of numerous scientific studies of this type of shark. Great white sharks are relatively common in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and near the Seychelles. Large populations persist off the coasts of California, Australia and New Zealand.
Carcharodons are epipelagic fish, their appearance is usually observed and recorded in coastal seas, abundant in prey such as seals, sea lions, whales, where other sharks and large bony fish live.
The great white shark is nicknamed the mistress of the ocean, since no one can compare with it in the power of attacks among other fish and sea inhabitants. Only the large killer whale terrifies Carcharodon.
Great white sharks are capable of long-distance migrations and can descend to considerable depths: these sharks have been recorded at depths of almost 1300 m.
Recent research has shown that great white sharks migrate between Baja California, Mexico, and a spot near Hawaii known as the White Shark Cafe, where they spend at least 100 days a year before migrating back to Baja California. Along the way, they swim slowly and dive to a depth of approximately 900 m. After arriving at the coast, they change behavior. Dives are reduced to 300 m and last up to 10 minutes.
White shark tagged offshore South Africa, showed the migration routes to the southern coast of Australia and back, which it made every year. Researchers have found that a great white shark completes this route in less than 9 months. The entire length of the migration route is about 20 thousand km in both directions.
These studies refuted traditional theories, according to which the white shark was considered an exclusively coastal predator.
Interactions have been established between different populations of white sharks, which were previously considered separate from each other.
The purposes and reasons why the white shark migrates are still unknown. There are suggestions that migrations are caused by the seasonal nature of hunting or mating games.
ate a great white shark with a spindle-shaped, streamlined shape, like most sharks - active predators. A large, conical head with medium-sized eyes located on it and a pair of nostrils, to which small grooves lead, increasing the flow of water to the shark’s olfactory receptors.
The mouth is very wide, armed with sharp, triangular-shaped teeth with serrations on the sides. With such teeth, like an ax, the shark easily cuts off pieces of flesh from its prey. The number of teeth in a great white shark, like in a tiger shark, is 280-300. They are located in several rows (usually 5). A complete change of the first row of teeth in young individuals of great white sharks occurs on average once every three months, in adults - once every eight months, i.e. The younger the sharks, the more often they change their teeth.
Behind the head there are gill slits - five on each side.
The body coloration of great white sharks is typical of fish that swim in the water column. The ventral side is lighter, usually off-white, the dorsal side is darker - gray, with shades of blue, brown or green. This color makes the predator unnoticeable in the water column and allows it to hunt for prey more efficiently.
Large and fleshy anterior dorsal fin and two pectoral fins. The ventral, second dorsal and anal fins are smaller. The plumage ends with a large caudal fin, both blades of which, like all salmon sharks, are approximately the same size.
Among the features of the anatomical structure, it should be noted that great white sharks have a highly developed circulatory system, which allows them to warm up their muscles, thereby achieving high mobility of the shark in the water.
Like all sharks, great whites lack a swim bladder, meaning they must constantly move to avoid drowning. However, it should be noted that sharks do not feel any particular inconvenience from this. For millions of years they managed without a bubble and did not suffer from it at all.
The usual size of an adult great white shark is 4-5.2 meters and weighs 700-1000 kg.
Females are usually larger than males. The maximum size of a white shark is about 8 m and weighs more than 3500 kg.
It should be noted that the maximum size of a white shark is a hotly debated topic. Some zoologists and shark specialists believe that the great white shark can reach significant sizes - more than 10 or even 12 meters in length.
Over the course of several decades, many scientific works According to ichthyology, as well as the Book of Records, two individuals were called the largest great white sharks ever caught: a great white shark, 10.9 m long, caught in southern Australian waters near Port Fairy in the 1870s, and a great white shark 11.3 m long, caught in a herring trap at a dam in New Brunswick (Canada) in 1930. Reports of the capture of specimens 6.5-7 meters long were common, but the above sizes remained a record for a long time.
Some researchers have questioned the reliability of the size measurements of these sharks in both cases. The reason for this doubt is the large difference between the sizes of record specimens and all other sizes of large great white sharks obtained through accurate measurements. The New Brunswick shark may have been a basking shark rather than a great white, as both sharks have a similar body shape. Since the fact of catching this shark and its measurement was recorded not by ichthyologists, but by fishermen, such an error could well have occurred. The question of the size of the Port Fairy shark was clarified in the 1970s when shark expert D. I. Reynolds studied the jaws of this great white shark.
Based on the size of the teeth and jaws, he determined that the Porta Fairy shark was no more than 6 meters in length. Apparently, an error in measuring the size of this shark was made in order to obtain a sensation.
Scientists determined the size of the largest specimen, the length of which was reliably measured, to be 6.4 meters. This great white shark was caught in Cuban waters in 1945, measured by experts and documented. However, in this case, there were experts who claim that the shark was actually several feet shorter. The unconfirmed weight of this Cuban shark was 3270 kg.
Young carcharadons feed on small bony fish, small marine animals and mammals. Grown-up great white sharks include in their diet larger prey - seals, sea lions, large fish, including smaller sharks, cephalopods and other more nutritious marine life. Whale carcasses are not ignored.
Their light coloration makes them less noticeable against the background of underwater rocks when they are stalking prey.
The high body temperature inherent in all herring sharks allows them to develop higher speed when attacking, and also stimulates brain activity, as a result of which great white sharks sometimes use cunning tactics during the hunt.
If we add to this massive body, powerful jaws with strong and sharp teeth, then you can understand that great white sharks can handle any prey.
Great white sharks' food preferences include seals and other marine animals, including dolphins and small whales. These predators need fatty animal food to maintain energy balance in organism. The system for heating muscle tissue with blood in great white sharks requires high-calorie food. And warm muscles provide high mobility to the shark’s body.
The tactics of hunting seals by the great white shark are curious. At first, it slides horizontally through the water, as if not noticing the tasty prey floating on the surface, then, approaching the victim closer, it abruptly changes the direction of movement upward and attacks it. Sometimes great white sharks even jump several meters out of the water at the moment of attack.
Often, carcharodon does not kill the seal immediately, but by hitting it from below with its head or slightly biting it, it throws it up above the water. Then it returns to the wounded victim and eats it.
If we take into account the passion of great white sharks for fatty food in the form of small marine mammals, then the reason for most shark attacks on people in the water becomes clear. Swimmers and, especially, surfers, when viewed from the depths, surprisingly resemble in their movements the prey familiar to great white sharks. This can explain known fact, when, often, a great white shark bites a swimmer and, realizing the mistake, leaves him, swimming away in disappointment. Human bones cannot be compared with seal fat.
You can watch a film about the great white shark and its hunting habits.
There are still many questions and mysteries about the reproduction of great white sharks. No one got to watch them mate and the female give birth to her young. Great white sharks are ovoviviparous fish, like most sharks.
The female's pregnancy lasts about 11 months, after which one or two cubs are born. Great white sharks are characterized by so-called intrauterine cannibalism, when more developed and stronger sharks eat their weaker brothers and sisters while still in the womb.
Newborns are equipped with teeth and everything necessary to begin an active life as predators.
Young sharks grow quite slowly and reach sexual maturity at approximately 12-15 years of age. It was the low fertility of great white sharks and long puberty that served as the reason for the gradual decrease in the population of these predators in the World Ocean.
The white shark, or Carcharodon carcharias, is the largest predator of modern sharks. The only surviving species from the Carcharodon genus is the “white death”, which alone deserves respect. This sharp-toothed monster leaves no chance of salvation for anyone. Carcharodon prefers the coastal waters of the continental plume, where more heat. However, for some populations one of the habitat regions is the Mediterranean Sea. Although, it would seem, this particular sea is considered one of the safest in terms of attacks on people by man-eating sharks. Should we be afraid of white sharks in the Mediterranean and how do predators behave in these warm waters?
Let's figure it out.
The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar. So, according to the latest information, the number of “indigenous” populations of white sharks has decreased threefold here. Unregulated smuggling of carcharodon, as a source of delicious products - fins, fat, liver, as well as an expensive souvenir - jaws, has led to the fact that white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are on the verge of extinction. This can lead to catastrophic changes in the entire aquatic system, since it is this species that plays the role of police officers in the underwater state.
But nature took care of its toothy crumbs. Right now, cases of migration of man-eating sharks from the Atlantic have become more frequent - albeit slowly, but they are restoring their numbers.
Should you be afraid of encountering great white sharks in the Mediterranean? It turns out that humans are not the most desirable prey for Carcharodon. Our bodies are too sinewy and too bony to satisfy the great white shark's appetite, so instead of homo sapiens, white sharks prefer fatty tuna. Throughout history, only a few cases of attacks by bloodthirsty killers directly in the Mediterranean Sea have been recorded, and even those were provoked by people.
The most common victims of white sharks are sport fishermen and divers who dare to swim too close to the predator. It is interesting that it was in the Mediterranean that the “shark phenomenon” was registered - if Carcharodon attacked a person, it did not tear it apart, as happens in other oceans, but, having tried to bite and realizing that it was not very appetizing food, let go and swam away.
Perhaps this behavior of great white sharks is related to ecology, or perhaps the reason is the food richness of local waters - there are a lot of fish in the Mediterranean Sea, including 45 species of sharks, almost all of them are potential prey for Carcharodon. Therefore, having felt the unusual taste of human flesh, Carcharodon often refuses to eat it.
However, there is an opinion among experts that a great white shark can take the path of cannibalism by tasting the taste of human flesh during periods of famine. However, the same can be said about other active predators from the shark community.
Interestingly, the last 3 years have been characterized by an increase in encounters between Carcharodon and humans in the coastal Mediterranean waters. Usually these fastidious sharks do not swim close to the coasts, preferring more clear waters, however, beaches are now increasingly being closed due to the appearance of white sharks. Thus, vacationers on the beaches of the Cote d'Azur and Levantine coasts, resorts in Spain, Turkey and Montenegro were evacuated. This does not mean that the beaches were attacked by white-bellied predators, no, the sharks simply swam closer to the shores than 100 meters. In some cases, great white sharks have simply been confused with dolphins.
Fears of the great white shark in the Mediterranean are stimulated by the mass of films about killer sharks, as well as isolated cases of attacks, which immediately become the subject of sensational hype in the media, often describing the events in unrealistic colors.
Thus, the whole world went around the shocking news about the death of the cult Italian director from the teeth of a carcharodon, which occurred off the coast of Cyprus. However, no one said that the man decided to try his hand at the now popular sport fishing. Trying to catch a great white shark with a fishing rod, he simply fell into the sea, where he was bitten in half by huge jaws. Not one more death There are no carcharodon attacks in this area.
The Mediterranean is not a fishing zone. There are not many fishermen here. However, this does not save the white shark from being hunted by people. Since the resort business is developed, all sacrifices are for the benefit of vacationers.
White-bellied beauties are killed for their fins, ribs, and teeth. Fins are a world famous delicacy; Often a fish is caught, the fins are cut off and the unfortunate predator is released to die. Usually such mutilated sharks die in the jaws of their fellow tribesmen, who take advantage of their helplessness.
Coastal restaurants use driftwood to make soups, one serving of which costs $100. The ribs are used to make souvenir combs, keychains, etc.
A separate income item is teeth and jaws. On the Italian coast, collectors pay up to $1,000 for a Carcharodon jaw.
The red shark is the mistress of the sea waters. The Mediterranean, as it turns out, is not the most popular habitat for carhadon populations. However, these waters are also mastered by white-bellied beauties. Calm, low-aggressive, white sharks of the Mediterranean Sea are different from their counterparts. Maintaining ecological balance, these ancient predators decorate the entire aquatic system, and will patrol the waters of the Mediterranean for many years to come.
And only man, with his greed and thoughtless cruelty, can stop the existence of this fish necessary for Mother Nature - the great white shark.
There are many facts confirming such fruits of human activity in relation to many types of living beings in history, all of them are reflected on black sheets International Red Book.
Complex Scientific research showed that people, by abusing fishing, themselves lead to a decrease in the amount of food for sharks, and the lack of food is the main reason for their aggressive behavior towards swimmers and surfers. The number of collisions is increasing due to more people going out to sea, ignoring government warnings, and entering shark habitats, leading to skirmishes and collisions with the animals. Data shows that 6 out of 10 attacks are caused by humans. For example, emboldened scuba divers are increasingly trying to touch a shark. Very often there are attacks on fishermen who are trying to pull out a shark they have caught.
Well, how do you get out of a fight with a shark alive? Here are some real life examples. Richard Whatley, who was swimming, was attacked by a shark in mid-June 2005 in Alabama. He was almost 100 meters from the shore when he felt a strong push in his thigh. He realized it was a shark and tried to escape. A second later, the shark received a powerful punch to the nose - all that Richard was capable of, he put into this blow. Having knocked down the predator, Richard rushed with all his might to the saving shore. But the shark quickly recovered and continued to attack. However, each of her attempts to attack ended in failure: blows to the nose followed one after another, until Richard finally crawled ashore safe and sound. By the way, this was the first recorded shark attack on a person in Alabama in the last 25 years.
So what? Is a powerful right hook to the shark's nose an effective defense? In this case, the person, of course, survived, but in most cases, such blows will only irritate the shark, so if you see a shark, then you better freeze and wait for help.
Yes, so far the shark is the number one enemy in the water for humans. But I would like to hope that in the near future people will invent some kind of remedy against the attacks of these bloodthirsty predators. Then, perhaps, a person’s fear of this fish will dissipate and he will appreciate these formidable hunters of our planet.
Over millions of years of existence, sharks have perfectly adapted to living in the aquatic environment. They can be called the most perfect fish of all fish species known to man. For more successful survival, they lack only one thing - caring for their offspring. After birth, the cubs are left to their own devices. But maybe that’s why sharks have become such perfect creatures? After all, it is known that in the cruel world of nature, the strongest or “cunning” species survives. The only enemy of an adult shark is man. Although he does not exceed it in body size and number of teeth, he is capable of destroying any, even the largest shark with one movement of his finger by pressing a button trigger device next lethal weapon. So maybe it's time to leave these creatures alone and give our descendants the opportunity to discover amazing world white sharks?
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.
According to official statistics, from 80 to 110 people are attacked by sharks every year (the total number of recorded attacks of all types of sharks is considered), of which 1 to 17 are fatal. If we make a comparison, people destroy about 100 million sharks every year.
