Great White Shark anatomy and appearance
The great white shark is a streamlined swimmer and a ferocious predator with 3,000 teeth at any one time.
It has a torpedo-shaped body, a pointed snout, a crescent-shaped tail, 5 gill slits, no fin spines, an anal fin, and 3 main fins: the dorsal fin (on its back) and 2 pectoral fins (on its sides).
When the shark is near the surface, the dorsal fin and part of the tail are visible above the water.
The great white shark has a robust large conical-shaped snout. It has almost the same size upper and lower lobes on the tail fin (like most mackerel shark, but unlike most other sharks).
Only the underbelly of the great white shark is actually white; its top surface is gray to blue gray.
This is useful in hunting its prey. The great white usually strikes from below and its grayish top coloration blends in with the dark water, enabling it to approach the prey unobserved.
Quote from Jaws...
Hooper: That's a twenty footer.
Quint: Twenty-five. Three tons of him. |
Great whites, like many other sharks, have rows of teeth behind the main ones, allowing any that break off to be rapidly replaced.
Their teeth are unattached to the jaw and are retractable, like a cat's claws, moving into place when the jaw is opened.
Their teeth also rotate on their own axis (outward when the jaw is opened, inward when closed).
The teeth are linked to pressure and tensor-sensing nerve cells. This arrangement seems to give their teeth high tactile sensitivity.
The great white shark has 3,000 teeth at any one time. They are triangular, serrated (saw-edged), razor-sharp, and up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) long.
The teeth are located in rows which rotate into use as needed. The first two rows are used in obtaining prey, the other rows rotate into place as they are needed.
As teeth are lost, broken, or worn down, they are replaced by new teeth that rotate into place.
When a Great White Shark bites it will shake its head side to side and the teeth will act as a saw and tear off large chunks of flesh.
Great whites often swallow their own broken off teeth along with chunks of their prey's flesh.
These teeth frequently cause damage to the great white's digestive tract.
However great whites often feed on stingrays and swallow the 'sting' as well, the barbed sting often getting stuck in the shark's guts.
There are anecdotal reports of the sting working its way out through the shark's side. Correspondingly a tooth causes the shark no major harm
| Jaws of the Great White: |
Tooth of the Great White: |
 |  |
|
