White sharks

Global travellers

White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias; family Lamnidae) occur in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide, including all major ocean basins and the Mediterranean Sea. They also have been recorded in tropical waters including the Coral Sea, New Caledonia, central Pacific, northern Brazil and the south-west Indian Ocean.

They mostly inhabit coastal and continental shelf waters, from the shallow reaches of bays, islands and estuaries. They have been recorded over the continental slope to depths of at least 1280 metres. Sightings, capture records, tagging and genetic data indicate that some white sharks also spend periods in the open ocean. For example, white sharks tagged off coastal California have ventured as far as the Hawaiian Islands, and Australian populations appear to have links with South Africa and New Zealand.

Tagged white sharks have travelled up to nearly 10,000 km, over periods of liberty up to 10 years. Their residency at certain places tends to be interspersed with directed (and sometimes prolonged) periods of travelling, presumably in response to the availability of prey or reproductive cues.