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.