The great white shark
or Carcharodon carcharias, belongs to the Lamnidae family, which also includes mako, salmon and porbeagle sharks. All of these sharks are able to elevate their body temperature by super heating the blood flowing to their eyes, brain and digestive tract.

Now extinct, the great white’s most famous relative was Carcharodon megladon which grew to an enormous 18m in length! There have been cliams of great white sharks reaching over 7m but the largest recorded in the Gansbaai area as 6.4m - an animal weighing over 2 tonnes.

Great white sharks have over 300 teeth arranged in 7 rows. The teeth are constantly being replaced on a conveyor system.

The bottom teeth are used to hold the food like a fork, whilst the top teeth slice like a knife. Juvenile great white sharks have narrow pointed teeth which broaden and become serrated as they mature.

Sharks are equipped with a barage of senses including a pressure sensing lateral line which runs the length of the body. Adapted pits called Ampullae of Lorenzini cover the sharks snout and detect weak electrical signals. They are so sensitive they can pick up charges as low as 5/1,000,000,000 of a volt! .

Sharks have internal ears, almost identical to our own! However they have no external features only tiny open- ings located on the top of the shark’s head! Great white sharks are extremely visual predators and have both rods and cones cells in their eyes. They also have a specialised layer of cells called the tapetum lucidium which both protects the retina in harsh daylight & also reflects low light back on to the photo sensitive cells at night.

Great white sharks are found in all of the world’s oceans apart from in the Artic and Antartic. Gansbaai, (South Africa), Adelade (South Australia), Farralon Islands, (W.USA), and Guadalupe Island, (Mexico), are known hotspots where large numbers of great white sharks can be found. These populations are not believed to be isolated as great white sharks are known to make huge trans-oceanic migrations.

Over 1000 great white sharks have been identified in the Gansbaai area of South Africa. Scientific tagging projects show many different migration paths. Some great whites take relatively short forays along the east African coast whilst others travel as far as Australia. In Gansbaai great white sharks are found all year round. However there are seasonal movements of sharks between Dyer Island and the shallow bay. During the summer months (Sep - Apr), great white sharks move into the shallow waters. Here they are thought to feed on smaller species of shark, rays and migratory fish. Their is some speculation that the females segregate at this time to give birth. However there's no firm evidence of this.

During the winter months (May - August) the sharks are most often found at Dyer Island which is home to over 50,000 Cape Fur seals. Cape fur seals are actually seal lions as they have external ears. When a shark catches a seal the seal can fight back using its claws, teeth and agility.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SEASONAL CONDITIONS CLICK HERE!

The most famous great white shark starred in the film JAWS! and was depicted as a mindless killing machine. In fact great white sharks are highly intelligent and socially complex apex predators.
Of course it is difficult to measure the intellect of a shark but it can be infered from some unusual physiological traits. The great white shark can super heat the blood directed to the brain and eyes by

It is acceptable to assume that warm bloodied seals are relatively intellegent as we are able to condition them to perform circus tricks! Great white sharks however not only compete with seals and seal lions for food they also out wit them! Great white sharks learn to patrol zones around seal rookeries where the seals are most vulnerable to attack.

When great white sharks hunt seals they often leap out of the water in a dramatic breach. The shark launches a high speed amubush which propells then clear out of the water! At Dyer

Although great white sharks do not travel together it is thought that in areas, where great white shark concentrations are high, they do form loose social groups. As with land based predators great white sharks need to avoid confrontation by adhereing to a strict heirarchy. The chance of conflict is reduced

It is believed that great white sharks use subtle changes in their body language to communicate. Great white sharks gape and show their weapons to warn one another to back off. By understanding more about great white shark behaviour we may be able to reduce the chance of unprovoked shark attacks.

Every year between 100 and 200 million sharks are killed world wide. Many are cruely finned and thrown back into the ocean to drown.

Shark fins have become one of the world’s most lucrative fish products due to the increasing popularity for shark fin soup.

In 1994 South Africa became the first country in the world to protect the great white shark. In 2004 great white sharks were added to the CITES Appendix II listing. This classes great white sharks as ‘extremely vunerable to extinction’.

In theory this legislation protects the great white shark from being fished for its meat or fins. However there is still a black market for great white shark jaws and teeth. Please do not buy any trinkets or jewlery made from any species of sharks teeth.

Sharks are the apex predators of the ocean’s and are integral to maintaining a heathly balanced ecosystem. In order to protect sharks they must become a living resource, and so have to be worth more alive than dead. Diving with sharks is the best way to achieve this. By supporting well managed eco-tourism operators you are