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Great White Sharks

John Howard
Colaiste Croist Ri, Cork

The greatest predator known to man is the great white shark (carcharodon carcharias). No one had even heard the name "great white shark" until the blockbuster film Jaws was released in 1974. This film portrays the shark as a man-eating machine. The great white is most commonly found in South Australian waters. The rate of attacks is highest there. The diet of a great white shark is almost anything. Experts say that sharks attack humans because they are attracted to the splashing humans do when they are in the water - sharks think it is the same splashing caused by sea lions. Some experts also think that sharks swim after humans because they are unfamiliar with us and therefore attack out of curiosity. They can smell blood from 2 or 3 miles. Young great white sharks are 4 feet in length. The young are abandoned at a very young age. A shark will reach maturity in 10 years.

Today there are over 300 known species of shark. The life span of a great white shark is 100 years. The largest white shark ever recorded was approximately 21 feet in length. It has been said that a great white shark 32 metres in length was caught at one time, but this has never been proven. The jaws of that shark were valued at $10,000 - the jaws of a normal great white are valued at between $200 and $400.

During the making of Jaws, director Steven Spielberg hired shark experts to obtain live footage of a great white shark swimming around a cage submerged in the water. It proved difficult. As soon as the shark spotted the cage it charged at it immediately, jamming its head between the bars. When a great white shark gets caught in anything it goes wild. Footage was taken of the shark getting caught and ferociously trying to escape. Spielberg decided to use the actual footage in his film and later acknowledged that it was the best shark footage in the film.

As recently as last summer a great white shark was spotted off the coast of England. A local fisherman was tying the rope from his boat on the dock when all of a sudden he caught a glance of the shark swimming nearby. Being so close to the coast of England, there was a possibility that the great white shark could arrive in the Irish Sea.

Great white shark attacks are not common, although one year in California there was a record 66 attacks in their waters, all committed by great whites.

Attempts have been made to raise great whites in captivity in aquariums across the United States. These attempts failed dramatically. After just four days later these white sharks were found floating lifelessly at the surface of the water.

A recent discovery was made into the behaviour of great whites, which was highlighted by a documentary on the Discovery Channel, called Air Jaws. When great whites surfaced next to the boat, the marine biologists studying them discovered that by placing their hands on the snout of the shark, they would instantly render the shark motionless. Another characteristic of shark behaviour covered by the documentary was their feeding style. When bait was lowered into the water, the sharks would circumnavigate the boat, eventually giving way to the largest shark of the group. When that shark had fed, the next largest shark would feed, and son on. The largest shark recorded by the group making the documentary in North African waters was approximately 5 metres in length and over a tonne in weight.
Great white sharks are indeed the greatest predators known to man.

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