Great White Shark 

JUST THE FACTS, PLEASE . . .

Let's face it, any animal that grows to be nearly 20 feet long and weighing 5000 lbs. with teeth as sharp as my mom's best steak knife would be pretty frightening almost any way you look at it. However, as regular viewers of the Discovery Channel can well attest to, the shark of fact is not really the shark of fiction . . . but it's pretty darn close!

While what follows is certainly not a complete picture of the great white shark (hereafter known as the GW to save typing!), it represents a collection of answers to questions commonly asked about the shark.

TALES OF THE PASTA SHARK

Let's start from the top. In the beginning, Carolus Linnaeus (1707 - 1778), the author of the taxonomic system for naming all living things, grouped all sharks together in the genus Squalus giving the GW its original designation as  Squalus carcharias. It was Sir Andrew Smith who suggested the genus Carcharodon in 1838 but it took 40 years of customary scientific bickering to settle on the now familar Carcharodon carcharias. This comes from the  Greek words carcharos, meaning "ragged," and odon for "tooth." For the record, among the "losing" species names were lamia, atwoodi & rondeletti. Thankfully, the latter didn't stick or my favorite animal would probably be known as the 'pasta shark' today! Just imagine what 'Jaws' would have been like: "This was no boating accident . . . it was a pasta shark!"

Scientific names are useful as the GW is known by many different names the world over. Here's a quick breakdown of some of them and the country of origin.

However, the scientific name is always the same.

The size of the GW is of great interest to not only the general public but also to marine biologists. It is not known how large the GW gets but a top size of approximately 7 meters (approx. 21 feet) is the most often quoted figure. How long is this? Picture a couple of Hondas parked in a row and then picture a shark as long as the two cars with a mouth about 3-4 feet wide and you've got a pretty good idea. The average GW is not nearly as large being only about 10-15 feet in length. However, this is still longer than my Land Rover . . . which is big enough for me!

A SKELETON MADE OF NOSES AND EARLOBES

Like all sharks, the GW's skeleton is composed of cartilage. This stiff flexible material is found in the ridge of your nose and also in your earlobes. While not are hard as bone, cartilage is still quite rigid. Because cartilage does not leave fossil remains like bone, we do not have any fossils of ancient sharks - just their teeth!

WHO ORDERED THE SEAL?

The GW is an apex predator meaning that it is at the top of the food chain with no natural predators. The Great White is the only Apex predator today that has not been kept or tamed by man and it should remain that way! This means that they have their pick of the buffet table when it comes to selecting their prey. It seems that they are not picky, choosing fish, squids, other sharks, dolphins,  & whales. Their favorite prey, however, are pinnipeds, a fancy name for seals & sea lions. They feed on carcasses as well, especially large whales.

OLD JAWS LIVED A LONG HEALTHY LIFE

No one knows accurately how long the lifespan of the GW is and the sharks themselves aren't making it any easier for us to find out. The GW population is quite isolated from one fish to the next. In addition, the sharks are highly migratory, moving from one spot to the next over a vast area. This makes it impossible for scientists to pick one fish and follow it for a long period of time to gather the data necessary to answer this question. 

Scientists have been observing GW's off the coast of the Farallon Islands near San Francisco for several years, identifying individual animals by scars and coloration markings. One such animal, nicknamed 'Stumpy' because the top portion of her caudal (tail) fin has been bitten off, has or had been observed returning to the islands each fall to feed on seals for several  years. In addition, examining growth patterns of sharks caught off the California coast revealed that they were approx. 14-15 years old. This indicates a lifespan of 20 or so years is not unrealistic.

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