AnimalCrazed

Great White Shark

“Swim for your life!!!”

“It’s gaining on us!!!”

“We’re gonna die!!!”

If you wouldn’t be screaming 1 of these possible quotes or something like it when your being attacked by a Great White Shark, what would you be yelling???  Here is the top 20 facts about Great White Sharks:

1. Nicknames: – White Pointer, White Shark – White Death.
2. Their scientific name is Carcharodon carcharias.
3. They have a length of up to 6m.
4. They weigh up to 2,250 kg or 5000 lbs.
5. They are the largest known predatory fish.
6. Carolus Linnaeus gave the Great White Shark its first scientific name, Squalus carcharias, in 1758.
7. The Great White Shark is classified as a mackerel (Lamnidae ) shark.
8. They have huge teeth, but, their relative, the Megalodon (extinct) had teeth that looked 10x the size.
9. Yet these Great White Sharks are much closer to the Mako Shark than the Megalodon.
10. They live in all coastal & offshore waters with  temperature between 54* – 75*F.
11. There are greater concentrations off the coasts of southern Australia, South Africa, California, Central Mediterannean & Adriatic Seas.
12. They are Pelagic fish.
13. They are considered an open-ocean dwelling shark.
14. They have been recorded at depths of 1,280m or 4,199ft.
15. They have a robust, large conical-shaped snout.
16. They have very serrated teeth.
17. Like all sharks, the Great White Shark has an extra sense given by the Ampullae of Lorenzini.
18. They are conivorous- primarily eating fish including rays, tuna, & smaller sharks. Also dolphins, porpoises, whale carcasses, seals, fur seals, sea lions, and even sea turtles. Though it is not normal, they have also been known to attack sea otters and penguins.
19. Females of these sharks are dominant over males. GO GIRLS!!! :]
20. They have caused over 311 recorded deaths — and still counting.

Right now you may be thinking “… why are people so deathly afraid of these fish?” Well you can thank Hollywood for that scare. Jaws. Directed by Steven Spielburg. Not that I am not a fan. I certainly am. But, the movie is probably a big reason why many people now-a-days are scared of the ocean. But did you ever think that maybe, just maybe they are mistaking us for something else? I say so. What if they were to mistake you for a seal or dolphin. I know what your probably thinking now, ” I do not look like a seal! Or a dolphin!”. But have you even accidentally left jewelry on while swimming in these waters where they live? They might just mistake your necklace for the brilliant scales of a fish of their diet. Hmmm.

Great White Shark: Horrifying Man-Killer or Curious Creature?

If you have been watching Discovery Channel’s 20th Anniversary Shark Week you will probably have seen many shark attacks (whether it was on people, seals, or fish) and you have probably seen many people say and write about how sharks are terrifying beasts that will gobble up anything in it’s path. But I am here to say that sharks are really not like that. I’m not saying that they are not dangerous because they are….. they’re very dangerous. But they can be calm giants.

See, what happens is sharks will sense movement and will get curious so they decide to investigate. Once they can see what they sensed they go and nip or bite at it to see what it is, thinking that it is most likely a seal, they attack it. In which then they find out what it is and are drawn in more to the creature by the blood from the attack(which they like). So shark attacks are not normally intended for humans but for seals (their normal diet).

Between being a horrifying man-killer or a curious creature I would put a Great White Shark as neither, just as another dangerous animal in the sea-  that happens to be huge.