Great White Shark Attacks: Are We Safe in Our Oceans?

If you swim, surf or otherwise play in the oceans of our world then surely you have feared a shark attack. One of the most feared is a Great White Shark Attack. This magnificent creature has swam in our oceans since the age of the dinosaurs. Growing to be 20 or more feet in length and weighing in at over 5000 pounds this animal is one who should be feared.

But lets ask ourselves if we indeed need fear him while just playing in our local oceans. The official name of the Great White Shark is Carcharodon carcharias, named by Andrew Smith in 1938. Like all sharks our beloved Great White is merely cartilage like that found in the human nose. These sharks are called Apex Predators meaning that they have no natural predators in the wild, except for man.

The natural food for the Great White Shark is fish, squid, other sharks, dolphins, whales and seals to name a few. Great White's like other sharks have a marvelous sense of smell and can sense electrical fields from other animals. Looking at a Great White you will see that they do however, have nostril openings, these do not smell the same as the nostrils we use. They are strictly used to smell prey. It has always been believed that the Great White has an extremely long lifespan however, it has been discovered that most found and examined were in the range of 14 to 20 years old.

There have been Great White Shark attacks around the globe. In 1985 Shirley Durdin lost her life in Peake Bay, Australia while snorkeling in 7 feet or less of water. The shark who attacked her was a Great White estimated to be 20 feet long.

In 1916 during a 12 day span of time five men were attacked off the shores in New Jersey, Charles Vansant was 50 feet off shore, Charles Bruder lost both feed approximately 400 feed from shore, Lester Stillwell, Stanley Fisher with the final attack being the only survivor of the shark frenzy. It was not believed that these attacks were all done by the same shark nor was it reported as a Great White shark attack, but was presumed to be a Mako Shark due to the fact that one of these attacks was in freshwater and it has never been reported that a Great White has come into fresh water to attack.