Shark (Great White) - Hunting

The great white shark is known to live mainly on large fish such as tuna, marlin and broadbill swordfish. As well as these fast swimming species, it will also catch sluggish bottom-dwelling skates and rays. Seals, dolphins, sea lions and turtles also often fall victim. Sharks have an acute sense of smell, enabling them to find their food. The surface of the snout has thousands of tiny holes which make up an important sensory organ which allows the shark to sense minute drops of blood in the water. It can detect a tiny drop of blood in 4,600,000 litres of water. In fact two thirds of the shark's brain area is devoted to the vital sense of smell.  The shark can see and hear very well which also helps it to locate its prey.

A shark usually hunts alone but several may home in on prey if it is releasing blood into the water. The sharks themselves can find they are in danger during a "feeding frenzy" for when attacking, a hungry great white goes straight towards the prey and may lunge through the water at up to 25mph - and woe betide any shark which gets in the way! Many sharks are bitten by their own comrades during mass attacks at a "feeding frenzy".

As the shark opens its mouth to attack, it raises its flexible snout out of the way and the jaws, which are loosely attached to the skull, are pushed out as the mouth opens, which puts the teeth into the biting position. The power behind the jaws is immense and the teeth are adapted for shearing or sawing flesh as a shark clamps its jaws on its victim and throws its head from side to side until a mouthful is torn from the body. Even quite a a modest-sized 4.8 metre (16 foot) great white shark can bite with a pressure of 3 tonnes per square centimetre, and will tear out a chunk of flesh measuring 28 by 33 centimetres.

The teeth of sharks are formidable and a close-up photograph of the open mouth of a great white shark can be spine-chilling to say the least! The teeth are triangular and have serrated edges for tearing flesh. They are not rooted into the gum like those of mammals but are embedded in several rows, one behind the other. New teeth form on the inside of the jaw, lying flat at first but gradually flipping up as they move forward. Only the front row of teeth is functional at any one time. Usually only a few worn-out teeth are lost at a time, at the rate of about one every 8 days or so. Each tooth can measure up to 7.5cm long.