Great White Shark Facts

In the realms of the deep, where most humans dread to enter, lives the Great White Shark, who is considered a notorious creature. Some time ago, it was satisfied in its sanctuary, having lived in oblivion for over 350 million years! Peering eyes and inquisitive minds did not leave it alone for very long. The Great White Shark shot to fame with the movie "Jaws," where it was portrayed as a bloodthirsty killer. Then came along Lenny and the other sharks in "Shark Tale."

Here are some gripping facts about the Great White Shark:

• Great White sharks belong to the class "Chrondrichthyes."
• Unlike most other fish, a shark’s scale is irregular.
• A Great White Shark has 5 gill slits.
• The Great White Shark measures 12-16 feet in length. It can grow to a length of 19-21 feet too.
• Great White Sharks are streamlined swimmers. They have a torpedo shaped body with a pointed snout.
• The Great White Shark’s back is dull grey in color and the underside is white.
• The Great White Shark has three main fins, the dorsal and two pectoral fins.
• The Great White Shark has about 3000 teeth, which are arranged in rows. For grabbing and cutting prey, they use the first two rows of teeth. The teeth in the last two rows rotate into place when the front teeth are worn out, broken or fall out. The teeth are shaped like a triangle with serrations on the edges.
• The Great White Shark reproduces only twice in her whole life and has litters of about 7-9 pups.
• The Great White Shark does not chew its food. Instead, it rips off chunks of meat and swallows them whole. After it has eaten a seal or a sea lion, a Great White Shark can last a month or two without consuming another big eal.
• Great White Sharks can be found in all coastal temperate waters, whether 3 feet or 1280 meters deep. They are found on the coastlines that stretch from California to Alaska, the east coast of the USA, most of the Gulf coast, Hawaii, most of South America, Australia (except the north coast), New Zealand, Mediterranean Sea, West Africa to Scandinavia, Japan and the eastern coastline of China to Russia.
• Records show that the largest Great White Shark is 21 feet long. There was a claim that suggested that a Great White Shark measuring 23 feet had been caught in the Mediterranean. Reports regarding that have not yet been documented.