size white shark

A typical adult great white shark measures 4 to 4.8 m (13 to 16 ft) with a typical weight of 680 to 1,100 kg (1,500 to 2,450 lb), females generally being larger than males. The maximum size of the great white shark has been subject to much debate, conjecture, and misinformation. Richard Ellis and John E. McCosker, both academic shark experts, devote a full chapter in their book, The Great White Shark (1991), to analysing various accounts of extreme size.
Today, most experts contend that the great white shark's "normal" maximum size is about 6 m (20 ft), with a "normal" maximum weight of about 1,900 kg (4,200 lb).

For several decades, many ichthyological works, as well as the

Guinness Book of World Records, listed two great white sharks as the largest individuals caught: an 11 m (36 ft) great white captured in Southern Australian waters near Port Fairy in the 1870s, and an 11.3 m (37 ft) shark trapped in a herring weir in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1930s. While this was the commonly accepted maximum size, reports of 7.5 to 10 metre (25 to 33.3 ft) great white sharks were common and often deemed credible.

Great white shark caught off Hualien County, Taiwan on May 14, 1997. Reportedly[citation needed] almost 7 metres in length and weighing 2500 kg.
Some researchers questioned the reliability of both measurements, noting they were much larger than any other accurately-reported great white shark. The New Brunswick shark may have been a misidentified basking shark, as both sharks have similar body shapes. The question of the Port Fairy shark was settled in the 1970s, when J.E. Reynolds examined the shark's jaws and "found that the Port Fairy shark was of the order of 5 m (17 ft) in length and suggested that a mistake had been made in the original record, in 1870, of the shark's length.

Ellis and McCosker write that "the largest White Sharks accurately measured range between 19 and 21 ft (6.4 m) [about 5.8 to 6.4 m], and there are some questionable 23-footers [about 7 m] in the popular — but not the scientific — literature". Furthermore, they add that "these giants seem to disappear when a responsible observer approaches with a tape measure." (For more about legendary exaggerated shark measurements, see

the submarine).

The largest specimen Ellis and McCosker endorse as reliably measured was 6.4 m (21 ft) long, caught in

Cuban waters in 1945; though confident in their opinion, Ellis and McCosker note other experts have argued this individual might have been a few feet shorter. There have since been claims of larger great white sharks, but, as Ellis and McCosker note, verification is often lacking and these extraordinarily large great white sharks have, upon examination, all proved under the 20-21 ft limit.

For example, a much-publicized female great white said to be 7.13 m (23.4 ft) was fished in Malta in 1987 by Alfredo Cutajar. In their book, Ellis and McCosker agree this shark seemed to be larger than average, but they did not endorse the 7.13 m (23.4 ft) measurement. In the years since, experts eventually found reason to doubt the claim, due in no small part to conflicting accounts offered by Cutajar and others. A BBC photo analyst concluded that even "allowing for error ... the shark is concluded to be in the 18.3 ft (5.6 m) range and in no way approaches the 23 ft (7.0 m) reported by Abela." (as in original)

According to the Canadian Shark Research Centre, the largest accurately measured great white shark was a female caught in August 1988 at

Prince Edward Island off the Canadian (North Atlantic) coast and measured 6.1 m (20 ft). The shark was caught by David McKendrick, a local resident from Alberton, West Prince.

The question of maximum weight is complicated by the unresolved question of whether or not to account for the weight of a shark's recent meals when weighing the shark itself. With a single bite, a great white can take in up to 14 kg (31 lb) of flesh, and can gorge on several hundred kilograms or pounds of food.

Ellis and McCosker write in regards to modern great white sharks that "it is likely that [Great White] sharks can weigh as much as 2 tons", but also note that the largest recent scientifically measured examples weigh in at about 2

tonnes (1.75 short tons).
The largest great white shark recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is one landed by Alf Dean in south Australian waters in 1959, weighing 1,208 kg (2,660 lb). Several larger great white sharks caught by anglers have since been verified, but were later disallowed from formal recognition by IGFA monitors for rules violations

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark