Great white sharks can reach lengths of up to 6.4\u202fm and weigh as much as 2,041\u202fkg. This powerful swimmer can travel long distances with ease but is also capable of short bursts of speed, reaching up to around 50\u202fkph \u2013 making any encounter in the water a terrifying prospect.<\/p>\n
The great white shark is a stealthy ambush predator, famous for breaching the water to snatch prey with its razor-sharp, triangular teeth, delivering a bite force of up to 1.8\u202fmetric tonnes. Feeding primarily on marine mammals, such as seals, dolphins, and some whale species, their diet also includes seabirds, turtles, crustaceans, molluscs, and carcasses. Juveniles hunt smaller prey, including fish and rays.<\/p>\n
Great whites often patrol coastlines in temperate and tropical oceans, such as Australia and South Africa, abundant in food and their acute sense of smell allows them to detect a seal colony from 3\u202fkm away \u2013 or a single drop of blood in 100\u202flitres of water.<\/p>\n
Despite their fearsome reputation in books and films like Jaws, humans are rarely at risk. Most unprovoked attacks, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, are \u201ctest bites,\u201d when a shark mistakes a person for its usual prey. Millions of people swim in the world\u2019s oceans each year, and shark attacks remain exceptionally rare. In 2023, there were 10 recorded fatalities worldwide caused by bull sharks, tiger sharks, and great whites.<\/p>\n
A solo spearfisher captured his “intense and unexpectedly long encounter with a 3-metre Great White Shark”, adding that the experience “completely changed the way I view the ocean and how I spearfish”.<\/p>\n