Great White Shark

The white shark has a stocky, torpedo-shaped body with a short, cone-shaped snout. Its long gill slits do not reach around the head. It has a large triangular first dorsal fin, which partly lines up with the pectoral fins, and a tiny second dorsal fin. The tail fin has two lobes of similar size and a single ridge or keel, and the anal fin is tiny. The white shark has a countershaded coloration for camouflage; being dark on top, usually blue-gray or gray-brown, with a white underside. It also has black tips on the underside of the pectoral fins. There is evidence that the species can change pigments, adding dark pigment or melanin to blotches of white over the course of months. The skin is covered in dermal denticles (tooth-like scales), which are proportionally smaller than in other sharks and have a three-to-five-ridged surface, with each ridge having tips that point backwards.

White sharks range from tropical to temperate and even colder waters around the world with major populations in northwestern and northeastern Pacific, western North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, southern African waters and Oceania. It is also present near the coasts of South America but appears to be uncommon. Shark expert Greg Skomal lists the Farallon Islands, California; Guadalupe Island, Mexico; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Western Cape, South Africa; Neptune Islands, Australia; and both Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, as major coastal feeding aggregations. Researchers have also identified an offshore feeding aggregation between western North America and Hawaii dubbed the White Shark Café.

The white shark is an apex predator that opportunistically feeds on fish, cephalopods (like squid), marine mammals, sea birds, and sea turtles. Diet differs based on size and age; individuals over 3 m (10 ft) can feed on marine mammals, while juveniles are limited to smaller prey like fish and cephalopods. White sharks prefer prey with high fat content, but even large individuals are recorded to eat low-fat foods. Marine mammals preyed on include seals and cetaceans (like dolphins). White sharks are also recorded to bite sea otters but do not usually consume them. The seasonal availability of seals drives white shark migration to certain locations. Targeted species include gray seals, harbor seals, northern elephant seals, California sea lions, Cape fur seals and New Zealand fur seals.

White sharks are estimated to swim 2.88–4.86 km/h (1.79–3.02 mph) but can sprint up to 24.12 km/h (14.99 mph). One individual was recorded cruising at a sustained speed of 4.7 km/h (2.9 mph) while migrating, which is fast for a shark and more similar to fast-swimming tuna. White sharks display various surface behaviors. These include spyhopping (poking head out of the surface) to observe an object above the water, as well as 'repetitive aerial gaping' where a spyhopping shark repeatedly gapes its mouth while belly-up, possibly as a sign of frustration after missing a bait. How they sleep is not well understood. At night, one individual was recorded swimming slowly in one direction along a current with its mouth open.

Little is known of the reproductive behavior of the white shark. There are two anecdotal accounts of the species possibly mating, one in 1991 and another in 1997, both off New Zealand. These testimonies both report belly-to-belly rolling during copulation. Researchers assume that the male bites onto the female's head or fin while inserting one of his claspers (sex organs), as is the case in other shark species. The accounts also suggest that white sharks mate in shallow water away from feeding areas. Females at Guadalupe and Cape Cod have been seen with scarring that may have been the result of copulation, possible evidence that these areas are used for mating.

Prior to the 1970s, the white shark as a species was known mostly to biologists and fishermen. The 1971 documentary Blue Water, White Death is credited with introducing the species to the public. Its popularity grew further following Peter Benchley's 1974 novel Jaws, and its 1975 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg. Both works established the species' image as a dangerous man-eater, a characterization Benchley later regretted.