Carcharodon carcharias
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At a Glance
Range: Much of the subtropical world. For the Americas: Atlantic: Newfoundland, Canada to Argentina; also north Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, Cuba and Lesser Antilles. Pacific: Alaska to Chile, as well as Hawaii.
Habitat Type: Brackish; marine; depth range 0 – 1280 m. Primarily a coastal and offshore inhabitant of continental and insular shelves, but may also occur off oceanic islands far from land.
Primary Diet: Bony fishes, sharks, rays, seals, dolphins and porpoises, sea birds, carrion, squid, octopi and crabs, and whales.
Estimated Population: Unknown. The population appears to be in decline where detailed data is available.
States with Current Habitat
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White sharks can grow to between 13 and 16 feet long as adults and can weigh up to 2,450 pounds. This shark is so sensitive to the electromagnetic field created by the movement of living creatures in the ocean, it can detect a charge as small as half a billionth of a volt.
The white shark is a widely distributed around the globe, but sparsely present in any one place. It is late to mature for reproductive purposes and has a small litter size, making recovery more difficult. The shark is targeted by commercial and recreational fishers, and is also vulnerable to being bycatch.
Why Protection is Needed
The Great White Shark is incredibly important for maintaining the health of marine ecosystems. Because it is a top predator, it plays an important role in hunting out prey that are not as healthy as others, which keep the stocks that it feeds on in a healthier state. If you remove the top predator from the ecosystem, the repercussions can be quite dramatic. In some cases where sharks have declined there has been a wholesale decrease in all the species in the ecosystem. Ecosystems have evolved over millions of years in a very delicate balance, one in which the white shark as an “apex” predator has helped to maintain.
The shark faces a variety of threats. Commercially, it is targeted for its fins, jaws, teeth, liver oil, skin and meat. It is also targeted by recreational sports fishers. In addition, white sharks are also caught accidently by commercial fishing operations and discarded with the other “bycatch.”
Because of its wide range as a large predator, the white shark could serve as an umbrella species for the conservation of many marine species. Protecting the white shark could help protect whole marine ecosystems.
Additional Information
The Great White Shark is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. A listing of Vulnerable is given when the best available evidence indicates a high risk of extinction. It has some protections in parts of its range, but this can be inconsistently enforced. There is a prohibition against catching white sharks in U.S. waters, but protection under the Endangered Species Act would help address the issue of bycatch and other threats.
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