Great white shark
Amazing fact
A great white shark may swim upward from beneath prey, collide with it and bite.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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A great white shark may swim upward from beneath prey, collide with it and bite.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Great white shark
- Scientific name
- Carcharodon carcharias
- Japanese name
- ホホジロザメ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Lamniformes
- Family
- Lamnidae
- Genus
- Carcharodon
A shark that lives in coastal and offshore waters in many parts of the world.
Its massive body is streamlined and powerful, so it can put on sudden bursts of speed.
Young sharks eat squid and stingrays; adults go after seals, sea lions and dolphins.
How the Great white shark lives
It may be active during the day or at night. Its lower teeth hold prey in place while its upper teeth tear the flesh. It usually lives alone, but is sometimes seen in small groups.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 4–7 m
- Weight
- up to 3,000 kg
- Active
- By day and by night
- Diet
- Seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whale carcasses
Where the Great white shark has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ホホジロザメ
- 简体中文
- 大白鲨
- 繁體中文
- 食人鯊
- 한국어
- 백상아리
- Español
- Gran tiburón blanco
- Français
- Grand requin blanc
- Deutsch
- Weißer Hai
- Português (Brasil)
- Tubarão-branco
- Italiano
- Squalo bianco
- हिन्दी
- विशाल श्वेत शार्क
- العربية
- قرش أبيض كبير
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Hiu putih.
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá mập trắng lớn
- Русский
- Белая акула
- Türkçe
- Büyük beyaz köpek balığı
- ไทย
- ปลาฉลามขาว
- বাংলা
- সাদা হাঙ্গর
- اردو
- عظیم سفید شارک
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Carcharodon carchariasChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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