Teeth on a conveyor belt
It has about 300 teeth in rows. When one breaks, the next moves forward. It may use 20,000 in a lifetime.
Open ocean
Great white shark
Carcharodon carcharias
A big, powerful shark, grey above and white below, with a pointed snout and a tall fin on its back.
- Size
- Up to 6m long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Cool coastal seas, especially off South Africa, Australia and California
Cruises after you, steady and unhurried. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Great white shark
Good to know
Six things about the great white shark
A nose for blood
A great white can detect a tiny trace of blood in the water from a long way off.
A sixth sense
Jelly-filled pores on its snout pick up the tiny electric signals of a hidden animal's muscles.
A warm-bodied fish
Unlike most fish, it keeps its body warmer than the sea, which makes it faster.
It can leap
Hunting seals off South Africa, great whites launch themselves right out of the water.
More at risk than we are
Sharks kill a handful of people a year. People kill many millions of sharks.
The real thing
Photos of the great white shark
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Cage-diving boats in South Africa, Australia and Mexico let people watch great whites safely. From a boat, look for a tall fin cutting the surface.
How to help
Great whites are vulnerable, and killed for fins and by nets. Never buy shark fin or shark teeth, and support marine protected areas.
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