Eating 10 of something-humans, turtles, fish, seals, other sharks-is initially fun. Fatality rates as high as 60 percent have been recorded from attacks in the waters off Australia.There's a lot of appeal in growing from a little fish to a hulking leviathan, but there's just not enough variation in the things you do along the way. A review of white shark attacks off the western United States showed that about 7 percent of attacks were fatal, but data from other localities, such as South Africa, show fatality rates of more than 20 percent. In situations where a large bite occurs, however, serious tissue and organ damage may result in death. If the victim suffers a moderate bite, he or she may have time to seek safety. In many instances, however, the shark does not return for a second bite. A white shark tends to inflict a single bite on its human victim and then retreat. In the areas where they are most common, white sharks are responsible for numerous unprovoked, and sometimes fatal, attacks on swimmers, divers, surfers, kayakers, and even small boats. White sharks are also opportunistic scavengers and will feed on the carcasses of whales and basking sharks however, they are not indiscriminate. The sharks will retire and wait for the prey to quickly die, giving rise to the terms bite and spit or bite and wait for this method of attack. Often this initial rush is so strong that the intense impact may send the prey out of the water or will send the shark into the air if it misses the target. Prey is usually hunted by ambush, where the shark will attempt to rush the animal by surprise and inflict a sudden and massive fatal bite. As they reach adulthood, their prey includes sea turtles, seals, sea lions, porpoises, dolphins, and small whales. Newborn white sharks feed on fishes and other sharks. This adaptation, called regional endothermy (which is a type of warm-bloodedness), allows the animal to be active in water that may be too cold for other species of predatory sharks. This heat is distributed throughout the body to warm its critical regions, giving the white shark a body temperature higher than the temperature of the surrounding water. Most fish are ectothermic, or cold-blooded, but white sharks have a complex circulatory system that conserves heat generated through the contraction of swimming muscles. Most weigh between 680 and 1,800 kg (1,500 and 4,000 pounds), but some weighing more than 2,270 kg (about 5,000 pounds) have been documented. The largest fully grown white sharks do not exceed 6.4 metres (21 feet) in length. Each tooth is designed to cut flesh and can easily puncture and shatter bone. In addition, their massive jaws are armed with large sharply pointed, coarsely serrated teeth. They are amazing hunters armed with strong muscles, good eyesight, and a keen sense of smell. They have a contrasting pattern of dark blue, gray, or brown on their back and sides. Only the belly of white sharks is whitish. They have a sharply pointed conical snout, large pectoral and dorsal fins, and a strong crescent-shaped tail. White sharks are large bulky fishes with a body shaped like a blunt torpedo.
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