Great+White+Shark

=GREAT WHITE SHARK﻿ =

BASIC INFORMATION

 * Scientific Classification:**
 * Domain || //Carcharodon carcharias// ||
 * Kingdom || ﻿Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Chondrichthyes ||
 * Order || __﻿__Lamniformes ||
 * Family || Lamnidae ||
 * Genus || Carcharodon ||
 * Species || C. carcharias ||

HABITAT AND MOVEMENT
Great white sharks can be found in temperate and tropical seas all around the world. The coastlines they can be found on include southern Russia, southern and western Africa, eastern China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Califoria. They live near to the shore in temperatures between 12 and 24 degrees celcius. These sharks usually swim around the bottom or near the surface of the sea.

Recent studies have shown that great white sharks have been making regional as well as intercontinental scales. California great whites were recoreded migrating to Hawaii as well as areas between Baja California. Some sharks in South Africa have been recorded swimming to the southern coast of Australia. The exact reasons for their migration are still being researched. Possible reasons are for seasonal feeding or mating.

**PHYSIOLOGY**
Adult white sharks on average 13-17 feet long and can be 1,500-2,400 pounds. Females are usually larger than males and some can measure up to 20 feet in length.

The majority of sharks have five gill slits which help direct the flow of water taken in from the mouth in the opposite direction to the blood flow. Exchanges of of oxygen and carbon dioxcide between blood and water in turn is faster.
 * Resiratory**

On average, a shark must eat between .6% an 3% of its body weight each day. To support this process, sharks have an expandable stomach and digest food withing one or two days. Sharks as well as humans have a two opening gut which can be thought of as a tube. They also have a short gut allows for more nutrients to be absorbed.
 * Digestive**

A great white shark's heart is a two-chambered S-shaped tube where blood flows from the heart to the gills then to the body tissues. They have low blood pressure and the walls of the pericardium on the heart are rigid to create a suction that maintains blood flow. In order to circulate blood throughout their bodies, sharks must swim continuously.
 * Circulatory**

Great white sharks, as well as every fish, have white muscle and red muscle. The white muscle is what allows these sharks to have short bursts of speed. The red muscle is for stamina when the white sharks patrols around. In adults, muscles grow to appox. 7 meters in length running from head to tail.
 * Musculoskeletal**

**SPECIES INTERACTIONS**
Species that sharks interact with are mostly their prey. They prey upon tuna, rays, cetaceans, dolphins, porpoises, whales, seals, and sea birds.

REPRODUCTION
Shark's eggs are fertilized inside the females body unlike most other fish. The male shark has "clapspers" which are extensions of the pelvi fins that are used to transfer sperm to the female. Birth has never been observed but great whites are ovoviviparous which means the eggs develp and hatch in the uterus. They have 11 month gestation period and undergo in intrauterine-cannibalism where the unborn sharks eat their weaker womb mates.

===ATTACKS ON HUMANS

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