DEEP BLUE SHARK COMPARED TO MEGALODON PLUS
but size is the sum total of all of these things plus something else: “bigness.” As Buzzy Trent, a famous surfer, once remarked: big waves should not be measured in feet but in “increments of fear.” Perhaps this also applies to great whites as well. We can measure length, width, height, weight, dorsal fin height, jaw width, etc. Size is, after all, not something that can be objectively measured in itself. With white sharks their aggressive behavior makes them larger than life, making it even more difficult to capture a rational, accurate measurement of size.
Given the vaulted position of the great white in fishing circles the largest catch is certainly a very high honor indeed. Catching the biggest of anything is a huge deal for fisherman and they are well known for their big fish stories. Then of course there are legends, myths and fisherman’s tales. Shark scientist, Barry Bruce, and assistant measure a large female Great White Shark caught off South Australia. At the very least you’ll wish you had a bigger boat. One of the last things you are thinking of is: ‘Hey, grab that tape measure and hold it up to the nose so we can measure it!’ Even dead it is quite a chore, as we will see.
DEEP BLUE SHARK COMPARED TO MEGALODON FULL
snarling, thrashing fish with a mouth of full of large teeth powered by enormous jaws of steel? The impulse for most people, which comes from some tiny primal core of our brain when we remembered we were not the top of the food chain, is to run and hide. They are also quite rare with 20,000 or less in the major feeding aggregations worldwide. And of course there are the practical considerations: what to do once you’ve captured a 20+ foot, 6000+ lb. Until recently we didn’t even know where they spent half of their lives, let alone how big they get. For despite all the movies and the attention given to this single species - only one among some 500+ species of sharks - there is a great deal of mystery around the whites. But the search to find the largest white shark is not a straightforward tale to tell. Of the supposed man-eating sharks great white sharks are clearly the largest. Megalodon (50+ ft), an extinct species of shark next to its smaller cousin, the great white shark (20+ feet). In truth most of the record size whites were caught inadvertently.
As such, great whites should never openly be hunted they are rare and precious and protected by law in many places around the world. Of course these are wild, untamed animals and should be treated with the enormous respect they deserve. To those that know them intimately they have distinct personalities each with unique behaviors (see The Devil’s Teeth for a good read and some great examples). But once they decide to attack they transform into a steamroller of aggression, launching themselves at Polaris missile speeds with their jaws wide open, sometimes flying completely out of the water in full attack mode. Before attacking they will make several inqusitive passes at their prey, eyeing them for good attack angles, bumping to check reactions. But among sharks they are surprisingly unique at times they can be shy, almost gentle. Second, and most importantly, the only thing monstrous about great whites is their size: they can be one massive fish. Of course there has been a lot of attention on Megalodon (Carcharodon megalodon) which may have reached lengths of up to 60 ft., but they have been extinct for several million years. No, most are interested in the top predators, the ones that occasionally eat people, and that is clearly the great white ( Carcharodon carcharias). However, since these are gentle plankton-munching giants most people don’t focus on their huge size. That distinction belongs to whale sharks (40+ feet) and basking sharks (30+ feet). First of all let’s get something straight: Great white sharks are not the biggest shark in the ocean.
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