🦈Great white shark
The great white shark, also known as the white shark, white pointer, or great white, is a large shark. It is closely related to the mako sharks, the porbeagle, and the salmon shark. It is a robustly built species with a grayish upperside and a white underside. The white shark is one of the largest living shark and fish species, though it is still smaller than the whale shark and basking shark. It has about 300 triangular, serrated teeth that are continuously replaced. Its massive, fatty liver can reach over a quarter of its body weight, providing buoyancy and storing energy. The species is partially warm-blooded, an adaptation that allows it to remain active in colder waters.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2022.
- Body mass
- 1,870 kg
- Body length
- 6.4 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- 24 km/h
- Bite force
- 1,602 N
- Maximum lifespan
- 50 years
Everything we know about the Great white shark
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass1,870 kgAnAgeOther figures ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
By sex
- Female3,230 kgFishBasev25.04
Body length6.4 mmaximum recordedFishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Top speed24 km/hDetails ↓Hide ↑
MEASURED burst of 6.54 m/s by dorsal-fin accelerometer and camera tag; bursts last roughly 6-8 s. Cruising is far slower, around 0.6-0.9 m/s. This contradicts the popular 40-56 km/h figures, which enter the literature through Hirt's reference 101, speedofanimals.com.
Source: Gooden, Clarke, Meyer, Watanabe & Huveneers 2025, Wildlife Research 52:WR24112 · see citation
Bite force1,602 NDetails ↓Hide ↑
MODELLED by 3D finite-element analysis at 35 degrees gape: anterior bite of the scanned 2.5 m, 240 kg specimen. Posterior bite of the same animal is 3131 N. Scaling isometrically to the largest verified great white (6.4 m, 3324 kg) gives 9320 N anterior and 18216 N posterior. An independent model of a same-sized shark gives 1053-1329 N (Ferrara et al. 2011, J Biomech 44:430). The 55000-182000 N figures quoted from this paper belong to megalodon.
Source: Wroe et al. 2008, J Zool 276:336, Table 2 · see citation
Maximum lifespan50 yearsrecord 36 years · FishBaseAnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Record: largest individual on record
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Litter sizeabout 6AnAgeDetails ↓Hide ↑
data quality: acceptable
Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0
Trophic level4.53FishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0
DietcarnivoreaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
From trophic level 4.53 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.
Danger to humanstraumatogenicFishBaseDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0
Volume l1,870 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Great white shark yet: shoulder height.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classElasmobranchii
- ›orderLamniformes
- ›familyLamnidae
- ›genusCarcharodon
- ›speciesCarcharodon carcharias
- classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
- orderLamniformes
- subfamilyLamninae
- genusCarcharodon
All 10 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
- subclassElasmobranchii
- orderLamniformes
- subfamilyLamninae
- genusCarcharodon
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