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Great White Sharks ( Carcharodon Carcharias )

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Great White Sharks

By James D’Alessandro

Table of Contents

Physical Characteristics - Page 2-3
Food - Page 4
Habitat - Page 5
Pups - Page 6
Fun Facts - Page 7
Glossary - Page 8
About the Author - Page 9
Bibliography - Page 10

Physical Characteristics

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are very fascinating creatures. Did you know their skeleton is completely made of cartilage? Great whites have a blue-grey dorsal which helps them blend in with the ocean when being viewed. They also have a white belly which makes it difficult to view them from below because of the blinding sunlight from above. Can you believe that great whites average 15 feet in length and can weigh up to 5,000 pounds? They have …show more content…

They are commonly found along the coasts of South Africa, Australia, California, and northeastern United States. They are found in less numbers around Brazil, the Azores, the Caribbean, eastern Africa, northwestern Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles, Mauritius, northern Australia, Sri Lanka, New Caledonia, the Philippines, and Hawaii. Great whites can swim as deep as 820 feet. Did you know that great whites can’t sleep? They have to have water pass through their gills slits, so they slow down to rest while swimming.

Most great white sharks live at the areas colored in red.

Pups

Female great whites give birth to baby great whites called pups. They give birth to 1-10 pups at a time. Pups average 5 feet in length when born. The female’s eggs hatch inside her. The newly hatched pups (great whites) feed on the unfertilized eggs inside the womb. Believe it or not, once the pup is born, it is able to take care of itself. It immediately swims away from its mother and lives its own life. Great whites can live up to 70 years of age.

Fun Facts

Great white sharks live on the coasts of all the continents except Antarctica.
Great white sharks often have scratches and scars on their snouts.
Great white sharks are capable of rolling their eyes back.
Great white sharks attack around 5-10 humans each year.
Great white sharks can smell one drop of blood in 100 liters of waters.
The heaviest great white shark ever recorded in the wild was

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