Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias)

Reputed to be the most dangerous and ferocious

The huge great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) lives in cool temperate to tropical waters. They are silvery white in colour, measure up to 6.5 metres in length and weigh up to 2,000 kg.

The great white shark has a reputation of being the most dangerous and ferocious shark in the world: hence its starring role in the film Jaws.

It is the largest carnivorous fish and normally preys on large animals such as sea lions and other sharks.

Fast swimmers, great white sharks are known to attack humans and even fishing boats. Despite this, great white sharks are not very common and conservationists are concerned that their populations have declined.

Behaviour
The Great white sharks' reputation as ferocious predators is well known, yet they are not indiscriminate "eating machines". They typically hunt using an "ambush" technique, taking their prey by surprise from the underneath.

Off Seal Island in South Africa studies have shown that the shark attacks most often in the morning, within 2 hours after sunrise. The reason for this is camouflage, in that it is hard to see a shark from above at this time. The success rate of attacks in average is 55% in the first 2 hours,  falling to 40% in late morning and after that the sharks apparently stop hunting.

The Great White is one of only a few sharks that can jump fully out of the water,. The others are thresher shark, shortfin mako, longfin mako, spinner shark, blacktip shark, salmon shark, porbeagle shark and the copper shark.

According to some reports, it is also one of only a few sharks known to regularly lift its head above the sea surface to gaze at other objects such as prey.

(From Wikipedia)