Biggest Shark

Sharks have been an interesting source of study for humans throughout history. The earliest known sharks were found some 420 million years back, even before the existence of dinosaurs. They range in size from as small as 17 centimeters to as large as 18 meters in length. Today there are more than 360 species of sharks and are split across 8 orders. Contrary to popular belief that all sharks attack humans, most of the species do not, if left alone. The species which are reported to attack humans even if unprovoked include oceanic whitetip, bull shark, tiger shark and great white shark. In the following paragraphs we give you some interesting facts of the biggest sharks.

Biggest Shark Ever

Even though extinct today, the Megalodon species of shark was the largest known to have ever existed. It is said that it was 60 feet in length and was a dominant predator in those days. This species of sharks vanished about 2 million years back, but when it was alive, it was the king of the ocean. It had 46 teeth in the front - 24 on the upper and 22 in the lower jaw. This species of shark had 6 rows of teeth, which means they had a total of 276 teeth. It weighed around 77 tons and is believed to have required 2,500 pounds of food each day. With the amount of food they required, they had whales and other large fish too.

Today whale shark is regarded the world's biggest shark which still lives. It has been reported that they reach lengths of 55 feet and some can even reach to a length of 60 feet. However, such large sharks have not been caught yet and the largest shark which has been caught measures just 12.6 meters. It was in November 1949 that this fish was caught of the Baba Island in Pakistan. It's estimated that the shark weighs more than 15 tons.

Even though they are massive in size, they are not predators and move about slowly in the ocean. They are filter feeders, which means that they consume food by the process of filtering food particles from water. They pass the water over specialized filtering structures in their body and these filtering structures trap food, especially plankton, and other nutrients, and expel water back to the surroundings. These sharks can mostly be found in tropical regions and warm temperate seas and can dive to depths of more than 700 feet.

The great white shark, popularly called white death, white shark, white pointer, or great white is the largest predator shark. It's found in all major oceans and mostly lives on the coasts. These sharks can reach lengths of 6 meters and can weigh more than 4,500 pounds. It can live for more than 30 years and reaches maturity after about 15 years. They live on seabirds, pinnipeds and small fish. Here you get some great white shark facts.

Biggest Shark Caught

Other than the above mentioned shark which has been caught off the coast of Pakistan, the biggest shark which has ever been caught is the great white shark, which is said to have reached a length of 9 meters. In April 1987, another great white shark was captured in the Mediterranean Sea, which is said to be about 7 meters or 23 feet in length. However, there has been a controversy over its length, as investigations at a later stage revealed that the length was exaggerated to an extent. In the same month, another Great White shark was caught in the Kangaroo Islands in South Australia, and is one of the largest sharks which has ever been caught.

Sharks, especially the biggest sharks have always caught the imagination of the people and there are several films made on them. Though these films show them as predators, all species are not really so and most of them are peace loving.