Quote from Jaws... Mayor Vaughn: Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.
Great white sharks' reputation as ferocious predators is well-earned, yet
they are not (as was once believed) indiscriminate "eating machines". They
typically hunt using an "ambush" technique, taking their prey by surprise
from the bottom. Sometimes, they swim so fast that they actually jump out of
the water while chasing/attacking seals. This 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. This is the only shark known to
regularly lift its head above the sea surface to gaze at other objects such
as prey; this is known as "spy-hopping", this behaviour have also been seen
in at least one group of blacktip reef sharks but this might be a behaviour
learned from interaction with humans. It is theorized that the shark may
also be able to smell better this way, since smells travel through air
faster than through water.
