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Great White Shark
The world's largest known predatory fish
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The great white shark is a type of mackerel shark from the Lamnidae family, which also includes mako sharks, salmon sharks, and porbeagle sharks. Great whites are the largest of the bunch—and the world's largest predatory fish. Great whites are named after their white underbellies, but their topsides can come in a variety of browns and grays. This stark contrast between colorations is known as countershading, and it allows many fish species to blend in with their surroundings. Thanks to the immensely popular 1975 film, Jaws, which starred a massive great white, this species is one of the most recognized sharks on the planet.
Watch the 50th anniversary trailer for JawsWith bodies shaped like torpedoes and powerful tailfins, great whites can rocket through the water at speeds approaching 35 miles an hour (50 kilometers an hour). This speed and a bite force of up to 1.8 metric tons allows the shark to quickly inflict massive trauma on their prey, disabling their target and thus protecting against a counterattack.
The great white shark's infamous smile is made up of seven rows of serrated, 2.5-inch-long teeth. While the animals possess around 300 teeth in total, most aren't used to bite. Instead, the teeth are part of a highly efficient, conveyor-belt-like apparatus the sharks have evolved to replace teeth that are lost during daily wear and tear. Unlike humans, which only ever grow two sets of teeth, whites keep growing new chompers as long as they live.