All articles tagged with #great white shark
A rare underwater sighting off Block Island captured an 8-foot great white shark feeding on a humpback whale carcass. Researchers from the Atlantic Shark Institute and Mystic Aquarium say it may be the first camera-recorded white shark sighting in Rhode Island waters, with the team collecting whale samples for research before the carcass washed ashore at Crescent Beach.
Thirty-five-year-old Leah Stewart, a Sydney mother and high school assistant principal, was attacked by a roughly 12-foot great white shark at Coogee Beach on June 13, 2026, sustaining severe bites that led to the amputation of her arm after a two-week medically induced coma. Her brother said she’s had challenging days but draws strength from messages of support, and more than $500,000 has been raised on GoFundMe to help the family as she recovers.
Drone footage shows several great white sharks circling and feeding on a decomposing whale carcass at Martin's Beach, south of Half Moon Bay, illustrating an uptick in California coast shark activity as warm Pacific waters and El Niño conditions boost prey opportunities; experts predict a very sharky summer while the whale buffet may keep predators occupied and reduce risk to surfers.
A volunteer diver during a Ghost Diving mission to remove abandoned nets off the Strait of Sicily captured what researchers describe as a rare underwater sighting of a great white shark in the Mediterranean, underscoring conservation concerns since the species is listed as critically endangered in the region.
A great white shark was filmed underwater in the Mediterranean for the first time, spotted by divers during a garbage-removal dive in the Strait of Sicily. The sighting underscores the region’s biodiversity while highlighting ongoing threats from abandoned fishing gear and overfishing, and reinforces the need for ocean protection.
A 38-year-old spearfishing diver was fatally mauled by a 16-foot great white off Rottnest Island, Western Australia, after being bitten on the legs; witnesses carried him to a dive boat where paramedics could not resuscitate him, marking the state's second fatal shark attack this year.
A 38-year-old man died after a four-metre great white attacked him at Horseshoe Reef near Rottnest Island, off Perth. He was transported by boat to Geordie Bay Jetty where CPR was performed but he died at the scene. The incident is Western Australia’s first fatal shark attack since March, while recent eastern coast attacks have prompted beach closures; globally, shark encounters are most common on Australia’s east and southeast coasts, averaging about 20 incidents annually.
A 38-year-old man was killed by a 4-meter great white shark off Horseshoe Reef near Rottnest Island in Western Australia. Rescuers rushed him to shore and CPR was attempted, but he did not survive. Authorities urged caution in WA waters. This is the first fatal WA shark attack since March last year, set against Australia’s long history of shark incidents (about 1,300 attacks since 1791, with over 260 deaths).
A 9-10 ft great white shark was seen actively feeding on a sea lion carcass near Sunset Beach in Huntington Beach, prompting a 48-hour water closure within one mile of North Pacific Avenue to 12th Street. No injuries were reported, and lifeguards issued safety advisories during the closure.
A near-complete 9-million-year-old Cosmopolitodus hastalis fossil from Peru’s Pisco Basin reveals a 7-meter shark with blade-like teeth and sardines in its stomach, shedding light on the ancestral path to the great white and the ecosystem of the ancient Pacific.
As the ocean warms, mesothermic predators like great white sharks and certain tuna must burn more energy to stay warm, forcing them to relocate to cooler waters and cope with dwindling prey; sensor data show that a one-ton warm-bodied shark may struggle to stay in water above about 62.6°F (17°C), highlighting overheating risk alongside ongoing threats from overfishing and bycatch.
A science feature surveys nature’s deadliest weapons—from the mantis shrimp’s 31 m/s punch that cavitates water and can crack shells, to the Dracula ant’s ultra-fast mandibles, the great white shark’s fearsome bite, and cone snail venoms—explaining how different delivery systems work, how venom potency is assessed by LD50, and how evolution shapes these weapons across animals and even plants and human culture.
Peru’s Pisco Basin has yielded a nearly complete 9-million-year-old fossil of Cosmopolitodus hastalis, a seven-meter-long relative of the modern great white, with 9-centimeter blade-like teeth and sardine remains in its stomach. The well-preserved specimen offers rare insight into jaw arrangement and tooth evolution, supporting a transitional path from mako-like sharks to modern great whites.
In 2004, a four-meter female great white named Gretel wandered into a small saltwater pond off Naushon Island, Massachusetts. After two weeks of failed lures, scientists and local fishers used nets and high-powered water pumps to herd her from the pond, through the bay’s sandbars and boulder fields, into the deep water of Vineyard Sound; the satellite tag later malfunctioned, but the episode helped dispel myths about sharks and underscored their fascination rather than fear.
Researchers examined nearly 100 great white sharks and found that tooth shape changes dramatically along the jaw and as sharks grow. Juvenile teeth are slim with cusplets for gripping small prey; around 3 meters in length they become broader, thicker, and serrated, while cusplets disappear. Lower teeth grab and hold prey, upper teeth slice and dismember, forming a coordinated feeding system. Teeth are constantly replaced, letting the bite reflect a shark’s dietary shift from fish and squid to marine mammals as it matures; the study provides a jaw-wide view of dental evolution across development.