“It’s tail swayed slowly from side to side, pushing the hunters body through the murky
water. All signs of motion were non-existant, except for the rhythmic movement of the
water over the five gill slits on either side of it’s head. Slowly gaining speed, the shady
figures unmoving eyes fixed on it’s target, a lost harbor seal pup. As the distance between
the predator and it’s prey grew closer, the jaws of the massive fish drew forward,
exposing nearly eight rows of razor sharp teeth. Strings of it’s previous meal hung in
rows from between it’s teeth. Sensing danger, the harbor seal frantically tried to find a
place to seek refuge, but it was too late. The jaws of the shark closed around the seal with
an astounding 14,000 pounds of pressure, cutting the seal in half. The Great White shark
claims another victim.1”
    Any one who’s seen the famous movie series “Jaws” may look at the Great White
Shark in a similar manner. Perhaps it’s the way that Hollywood uses a mix of fact and
fiction in the series. This may have frightened many people into hating the Great White
for it’s ferocity. It might have also been the size of the shark in the movie that’s kept
thousands of people off the beaches and out of the water. Better yet, it could have been
the overall storyline: A Great White shark with an eating disorder and a taste for human
flesh. Perhaps that’s what is keeping vacationers from grabbing their trousers and
snorkels.
    Over all, there have been 1026 attacks on humans by sharks in the last ten years.
Only 294 of these attacks have been linked to Great White sharks. That’s roughly the
number of people who drown each year in swimming accidents. Of these 294 attacks, less
than eighteen percent were fatal. Out of the eighteen fatal incidents more than seventy
percent was contributed to loss of blood. This means that the shark didn’t kill the victim.
The shark bit the victim and then released them (also known as the taste test). The shark
samples the victim by nibbling on an appendage or two often resulting in a severed artery
or other major blood vessel. Therefore, the Great White should be considered a mantaster
not a maneater.
    This intrigued scientists considering the size of the sharks brain. The Great Whites
brain is about one half the size of a dogs. Over seventy percent of the brain is used for
tracking prey. The other thirty percent is used for body functions. Studies show that the
sharks main purpose is to eat. People think that the sharks main purpose is to kill. This is
incorrect, sharks only eat when they are hungry. Impulses from the brain are sent to the
jaws and the stomach telling the shark that it is time to hunt for food.
   
   
“Why do sharks not follow a basic attack pattern on a human? In a human attack, the
primary strike is usually the only contact, as though the shark finds us(humans) to be
unpalatable. There is a theory on this as well, involving the differences in our anatomy
and the pinnipeds(seals, sea lions). We are mostly muscle where the pinniped body has a
great deal of fat. It is theorized that the shark somehow senses this and abandons us as a
potential meal because our bodies are not as energy-rich as the pinnipeds. Of course, this
is often enough to kill us - or at least, really screw up our day!”



Cold Hard Facts   
    The Great White shark has remained unchanged for 250 million years. It’s greek
name is Carcharodon carcharias. This is derived from carcharos meaning “ragged” and
odon meaning “tooth”. There isn’t a defined size range for the Great White but most
experts agree that the length of the shark is usually between 12 and 16 feet with the
maximum figure being about19 to 21 feet. (The 21 foot is an actual record from 1948.
The largest ever recorded!) If the Great White is that big try to imagine the size of those
massive jaws and teeth, Not to mention the enoromous power behind those jaws..
These huge eating machines used to be even bigger! The Great White was once known as
Carcharodon megalodon. The only difference in between the Great White and this
previous model is size. The Carcharodon megalodon was MASSIVE compared to the
modern day Great White. Averaging forty to forty-five feet in length, it is theorized that
this giant of the deep could swallow a city bus whole. There are many scientists who
theorize that there may still be some of these giants down there... down deep enough
where the bodies would never wash up on shore.
    The Great Whites teeth are serrated like a bread knife. Averaging about one to
two inches in length and about one-half to one inch in width. These teeth are so ragged
and so sharp, old native spears have been found with these teeth on the end of them.
Scientists think the natives used these spears as saws!
    The most mysterious aspect about the Great White is it’s life span. No one in
history has recorded the life span of one individual shark. There was one shark though,
that was tagged and observed returning every two weeks or so to feed. This observation
went on for some eighteen years!! Is this shark young? Is it old? No one can say for
sure.
    Of all the animals with a good sense of smell, the Great White tops them all. One
Great White can sniff out one drop of blood more than a mile away. This is after the drop
of blood has been diluted by billions of gallons of water. All of this is possible because of
fluid filled sacs on both sides of the fish called lamellae. These sacs run the length of the
fish. The walls of the tubing is so sensitive, vibrations as far away as eight miles can be
felt. Many people think that if they don’t have any cuts, lacerations, or abrasions, they’ll
be safe in the water. WRONG.
The sharks nose has twenty to thirty little black “freckles”. These freckles can not only
pick up the scent of blood, it can also detect electrical fields as tiny as .005 microvolt.
That’s the same as some one feeling the electrical jolt of a D-sized battery through a 1,000
mile long copper wire(that’s not very big). Every living thing and most non-living things
put out a small electrical field when in the water. The main reason sharks attack the
bleeding victim first is because the blood in the water releases more ions, thus magnifying
the electrical field as well as the scent.
    The Great White can swim at incredible speeds, sometimes as fast as thirty-five
knots(roughly 25 miles per hour). No human alive could stand a chance at out swimming
a Great White shark. The fastest human swimming record is held at a little over two miles
per hour.
    Great Whites have enormous appetites. In one meal, a Great White can eat almost
eight hundred pounds of seal meat. Because of the amount of meat the shark consumes in
this meal they can go without eating anything else for nearly a month. The Great White’s
diet consists of mainly lingcod, salmon, tuna, squid, other sharks, cetaceans (dolphins and
whales), and pinnipeds. They also show a preference for carcasses, especially large
whales. With some research done off the South Farallon Islands, located off the coast off
San Francisco, states that most of the shark attacks take place at the same time. This is
supported by the fact that Great Whites eyes are really sensitive to daylight viewing. The
time of day for the attacks is the same because the seals are forced each day to go into the
water because of the tides.


“The attack stratergies of the Great White were different on each species of the
prey. The Seal is usually attacked on the surface of the water, by the shark rising from
below. A large flowing blood stain at the surface indicates that the Great White carries the
seal underwater before removing a bite then releasing the carcass, that floats to the
surface.The shark almost always aims for the head, since the seal has alot of blood vessels
in that area.3”


The seals death is brought on by loss of blood or decapitation. The Sea Lion a diferent
type of attack method is used. The first attack is usually the most brutal.
The shark attacks while the sea lion is on the surface, the strike propels the shark out of
the water while the sea lion is still held in the beasts powerful jaws. It is then released to
float to the surface to bleed to death, then the shark returns later to feed on the carcass.
    Great Whites are considered fish, but that doesn’t make them entirely like other
fish. To start off, their skeleton is made completely of cartilage. This is the reason that no
shark bones have been found. Cartilage is a soft, flexible material that is light weight and
floats in water(You can find it in your nose if you move it from side to side). The
cartilage plays an important role in a sharks survival and buoyancy. Sharks have no gill
muscles so they must continue to swim in order to breathe. They even swim when they
are asleep! One exception is the Nurse shark. This shark has gill muscles and spends
most of it’s time on the bottom of the ocean waiting for food to scuttle by. When a fish
must swim to survive, it’s skeleton should be lightweight so the water pressure doesn’t
push the fish down towards the bottom. Sharks also hunt. The cartilage helps relieve the
stress of the water resistance as the shark swims. The sharks skeleton is hollow on the
inside. Each bone is filled with a mixture of air and fluid. The shark can regulate the
amount of air in these bones by secreting a fluid that makes the body of the fish heavier.
In turn, the shark slowly descends into the depths of the ocean. When the shark wants to
come back up, it drains the fluid into its urinary bladder. The gills filter the air from the
water and fill the bones with air once again. The shark becomes lighter and can come up
to the surface.
    Any one with enough courage to actually get close enough to touch the skin
surface of a shark, they’ll notice that it’s very smooth if you rub it one way, but if you rub
it the wrong way, watch out! Thousands upon thousands of sharp “spikes” cover the
shark. These spikes are called denticles; sandpaper rough along the side, but razor sharp
on the tip. Scientists believe that the denticles are used to cut the victim if it’s eyesight is
failing or it’s dark. Once the shark cuts the victim, the blood gives off a more accurate
position on the prey. The shark can then home in on the wounded animal and make it’s
initial strike.    
    Sharks are considered fish, but what differentiates sharks from the ordinary
guppie? One is shape. The normal fish is not as broad shaped in the frontal area. Sharks
have broad heads and oversized mouths evolved for eating. Their tail fins are not
identical in shape to each other. The upper fin is bigger in size and shape than the lower
fin. Another difference lies inside the jaws. The fish has teeth used for grasping prey.
The shark however has larger, more broad teeth used for shredding and tearing meat.
The third difference is, of course, in the skeletal system. Sharks have the cartiliginous
skeleton while the everyday guppie has bones. Why? The answer lies in the size
difference between the two animals. In the ordinary fish, there is less surface area. Less
force is needed to move the fish in a forward direction. Because of the sharks broad
frontal area and immense size, a much greater force is needed to move the shark. Having
the light skeletal system reduces the weight tremendously and less force is exerted. A less
obvious difference is the extra set of fins on the shark. The pelvic fins are located just
below the dorsal fin on either side of the shark. The fish does not have the extra set of
fins. It is determined that the extra fins are used to stabilize the shark during migratory
swimming and hunting.
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