ing, its body moves side to side, pressing the surrounding water. The sideways motions cancel each other out and the shark is able to swim more effectively. The caudal tail gives the final thrusts to pick up more speed. The great white can reach a speed of thirty-five miles per hour!When the great white is ready to catch its prey, it first observes the prey very carefully. Then it does a quick all-powerful thrust with its jaw wide open to bite the prey. Its powerful jaw envelopes the prey, usually the prey will bleed to death. They feed on fish, rays, smaller sharks, small harbor seals, and sometimes even sea lions, elephant seals, and small toothed whales. The great white shark, though, only hunts when it is hungry. Because 70% of its brain is used for prey tracking, it is no wonder why they are excellent predators. A great white though can go a month without eating if it had a very “filling” meal. Many people believe that great white sharks just want to eat humans; this is on the contrary. In the shark’s point of view, when humans are swimming, they look like a vulnerable fish. This is why they attack humans. Also, if you are a surfer, from below looking up, the shark only pictures a fish’s body structure. Out of the 1026 shark attacks, only 294 have been great white sharks attacks in the last ten years. Only 18% of these attacks were fatal. Great white sharks are abundant off the waters of California. The Farallon Islands has become the place where sharks go to feed. This is because the northern elephant seal, the California sea lion, the Steller sea lion, and the harbor seals live on this area. Great white of course aren’t restricted to the waters of California, they are found all over the world as long as there is an abundance of its prey.It is not hard to think of the Great White Shark as one of the most feared animals in the water. The release of Jaws in the 1980s gave Americans a ...
