Great white shark
Carcharodon carcharias
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Great white shark: 6 m.
Giant. Grows up to about 6 m.
The great white is the world's biggest predatory fish, a powerful swimmer found in cooler coastal waters on every continent except Antarctica. Its teeth are serrated like steak knives and are replaced as they wear out.
The weird bit
A great white is partly warm-blooded. A web of blood vessels keeps some of its body warmer than the sea around it, which lets it hunt hard in cold water.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Coast and shallows, Open ocean
- What it eats
- Fish, rays, other sharks, seals, dolphins, seabirds, squid and carrion
- How worried are we?
- In trouble (Vulnerable)Assessed in 2018 by the IUCN Red List.