Great White Sharks :: essays research papers

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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  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.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  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