A species
Great white shark
Carcharodon carcharias
A warm-bodied hunter with an unfair reputation.
You and the great white shark last shared an ancestor about 465 million years ago (on 21 November, if life's history were one year).
Despite its fearsome reputation, the great white is a warm-bodied hunter that keeps its swimming muscles, eyes and brain warmer than the sea, which helps it hunt in cold water. On the tree of life it sits beside the reef manta ray. Both have skeletons made of cartilage rather than bone.
The largest reliably measured animals are just over 6 metres long, about as long as a small bus. Most adults are shorter, about 3.5 to 5 metres. They are dark grey above and white below. That two-tone colour hides them from above and below. Young sharks eat fish and rays. Larger ones add seals, dolphins and sea turtles, and also feed on dead whales.
Bites on people are rare. Across all sharks there are only about 50 to 70 unprovoked bites each year. Many are thought to be a single test bite or a mix-up for a seal, not hunting people. The shark usually swims away afterwards.
Teeth that replace themselves
It has about 300 teeth, with about 50 in working rows at the front. Lost teeth are replaced through life, like a slow conveyor belt.
High leaper, fast swimmer
It can rush upwards and leap clear of the water when hunting seals. It can also swim in short bursts at up to about 50 kilometres per hour.
Born ready to swim
Mothers give birth to live young, up to about 10 pups at a time. Newborn pups are already about 1.2 to 1.5 metres long.