🦈Great white shark

Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758)

大白鯊（學名：Carcharodon carcharias, 英語：Great white shark），中国科学院动物研究所官方中文学名为噬人鲨，中華民國中央研究院官方中文學名為食人鯊，又名白鮫、食人鮫、白鯊，俗称白色死神，是鼠鲨科的一种高度食肉性的大型鲨鱼，出没于各个大洋及主要边缘海的浅海水域。大白鲨最早的化石出现于中新世，是噬人鲨属（Carcharodon）唯一现存的成员，屬於活化石物種。它的体型引人注目，较大的成年雌性个体可以长到6.4米（21英尺）以上，体重可达1,905—2,268公斤（4,200—5,000磅）。然而，大多数都比较小，雄性和雌性平均测量为3.4—4.0米（11—13英尺）和4.6—4.9米（15—16英尺）。大白鲨是世上现存体型最大的掠食性鱼类，为許多海洋哺乳动物（特别是鳍足类）的主要天敌，另也会猎食海鸟、海龜和其他鱼类等一切能捕杀到的海洋生物。大白鯊與多數鯊魚一样是機會主義的伏击捕食者，会不间断的巡游直到見到外形適合的獵物就會伺机试探攻擊，攻击往往是从后方深处突然加速上游发起，在攻击发起前鲨鱼其实也并不知道獵物是否理想。许多与大白鲨有关的鲨鱼袭击都是针对冲浪者，原因很可能是人趴在冲浪板上露出手脚划水时在水下看到的投影与海豹的轮廓极其相似，而袭击后发现口感不对时大白鲨常会放弃继续撕咬。相較之下，可以进入淡水和半咸水区的公牛鯊攻擊人類的紀錄其实遠比大白鯊要多，甚至有些报導的大白鯊攻擊其实就是被誤認的公牛鯊攻擊事件。作为食物链顶端的顶级掠食者（虽然遭遇虎鲸时也可能被捕食），大白鲨面对生态冲击时的物种恢复力稳定性并不强。此物种现被国际自然保护联盟列为“易危”，同时亦出现在《濒危野生动植物物种国际贸易公约》的附录二中。

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements

vs you

≈ 30× your weight

Conservation status

VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2022.

Population trendDecreasing

Key measurements

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

All measurements ↓

Facts and figures

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 mass

1,870 kg

AnAge

Other figures ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

By sex

Female3,230 kgFishBasev25.04

Body length

6.4 mmaximum recorded

FishBase

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Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Top speed

24 km/h

Details ↓

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 force

1,602 N

Details ↓

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 lifespan

50 yearsrecord 36 years · FishBase

AnAge

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data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size

about 6

AnAge

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