Great White Sharks Essay, Research Paper

The Great White shark, also known as the white death, is considered the most

dangerous shark in the waters. The Great White has a conical instead of a flattened

snout, black eyes, and large, serrated, arrowhead-shaped teeth. The upper and lower

lobes of the tail are almost equal in size, and the body is blue or brown-gray, not white,

except on its belly. The Great White is found in temperate waters throughout the worlds

oceans, and it is important, though not common, predator in California s coastal habitat.

The waters off central California offer a rich bounty of food for white sharks, and

every summer and fall, they actively feed in nearshore areas. The Farallan Islands, a

national wildlife refuge about twenty-seven miles off San Francisco, is a common

feeding ground for the great white. The coastal waters along central California, especially

around the Ano Nuevo State Reserve and along the Marin Headlands, are another

common area for white sharks. In the summer the sharks move to the coasts of Oregon

and occasionally the Gulf of Alaska, and in the fall, they turn south and move along the

offshore islands. They are also found in great numbers in the Australian waters.

The great white is a very agile killer that hunts mostly anything in the ocean. They

are carnivorous and usually prey on sick or injured prey. Just one drop of blood can make

the shark go into a feeding frenzy. It is not made to swim fast and its usual speed is

fifteen miles per hour. It migrates south to warmer waters to give birth to six to nine

pups. The only way it can defend itself is by using its mouth and its razor-sharp teeth.

One of the most largest specimens caught was off of Mantauk, Long Island, and

New York, in 1964; it was seventeen and a half feet long and weighed an estimated 4500

pounds. Between 1916 and 1969, there were thirty-two attacks on swimmers, resulting in

thirteen deaths attributed to great white sharks. On three occasions white sharks were

reported to have attacked boats, sinking one of them, a dory, off Cape Breton, Nova

Scotia, Canada.

The main cause of sharks to become endangered is man. Man will never

understand Great White Sharks, so the great whites will never be safe because man is

scared about thing that man does not know about. Some specialists believe it is

endangered due to its shrinking amount of food sources and overfishing by trophy

hunters. We can protect the white shark by cracking down on poachers, and helping

support our local Great White Shark foundation.