The Great White Shark... (Carcharidon carcharius)

This one of the largest hunting/attacking sharks. Great Whites have a large Main dorsal fin, this is often seen along with the tip of the tail just above the water when cruising near the surface. Of course this is synonymous with shark sightings as it the only way of telling the great white's approach from a distance. Check out these vid's . The second dorsal fin is small, the caudal fin is large and rounded. The pectoral finds are pointed and end with black marks. Like most sharks the Graet White hhas an excellent shape for moving through the water, however, unlike most other sharks this tends to be spoilt by a rather large girth (it's a fat shark). The Great white is grey on top and white underneath which is common in a lot of fish. It aids disguise from prey which enables the hunter to sneak up. The snout is quite short and stumpy, this allows for the movement needed when taking prey, the snout moves up and reveals the deadly top jaw full of some serious teeth. As is obvious when looking at most pictures of a great white, the teeth are some of the largest found on a shark, there are about 3000 of them and they rotate up into place to replace any that are lost. White sharks have incredible senses, their sense of smell is second to none, this is their primary sense. If you don't want to be attacked, don't smell good enough to eat.

White sharks are over fished, over hunted and in Australia (south) their numbers are very low. However, this is not the only cause of their demise, over fishing which means lack of food, has as much to do with the reduction of sharks as it does with other marine life such as penguins, seals, dolphins etc. There is hope though. There are many organisations and general good will towards sharks, people around the world are realising (through the same methods that scared them in the first place) that sharks are to be respected and thought of as the lions and tigers of the sea rather than just some big vicious fish that should be hunted and feared.

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