Watch Excitement Turn to Fear When a 30-Ft Shark Approaches the Boat

This video would be hilarious if it wasn’t quite so scary. You can hear the exact moment when the occupants of this boat realize that a huge shark has joined them on their trip. They still try to sound excited but you can also sense the fear onboard! Luckily, this huge animal chooses to swim on by without causing them too many problems. But is it really a great white?

Don’t Miss This Massive Mystery Shark!

Great White Shark Teeth

Great white sharks are amazing to look at but once they open their mouths they are scary! They have around 300 serrated, triangular teeth that are used for preying very effectively on seals, sea lions, and dolphins. These sharks are very fast swimmers and use their torpedo-shaped bodies to rush at unsuspecting animals. However, they are also very good at leaping out of the water and stunning their target animal. Once the prey is clamped between the shark’s teeth there is no escape.

Their teeth are arranged in rows and it is not a problem if they lose one because they are continuously replaced. This can happen quite often as the teeth are fixed into cartilage and not bone. A single shark can get through tens of thousands of teeth in its lifetime. They are razor-sharp and designed to tear flesh. Each of the great white’s teeth can grow to six inches in length.

Bite Force of the Great White

Sharp teeth are all very well but as a supreme predator, a great white has a phenomenal bite force to go with them. The exact force varies with the size of the shark so the larger sharks have the greatest bit force. No one has actually measured the bite force of the great white but scientists have modeled what it could be. They have concluded that a 21-foot great white shark would exert a bite force of 4,000 psi. This is about as big as a great white can grow. Most are around 15 feet long.

Is this shark actually a great white? If it is, it is very unlikely that it was actually 30 feet long as described in the video. The sharks that do reach 30 feet are the basking sharks. However, the commentator on the video states “This is not a basking shark”. We don’t get a great view of this creature so that question will have to remain open.

Bonus: Do Great Whites Attack Boats?

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) produces an annual tally of shark attacks on people – and one category in that report is labeled “boat bites”. Most of the time those bites are provoked attacks that occur when a hooked shark is trying to defend itself. Unprovoked shark attacks on boats are rare – but they do happen. Which shark species is responsible for most boat bites? The Great White by far – followed by the mako. Other types of sharks that have been involved in boat bites include tiger sharks, bull sharks, blue sharks, bronze whalers, and hammerheads.

These attacks have also occurred deep underwater – such as when a sixgill shark attacked the submarine of the Blue Planet II film crew while they were filming a documentary. The shark didn’t sink the sub – but great whites have been guilty of just that. In 1953, a 12-foot great white trailed a white-hulled dory off Cape Breton for a week before it attacked and sank it. The shark didn’t attack the two men on board – but one of them drowned while trying to swim to shore.

Kayakers most often experience shark encounters – not attacks – although sometimes they are thrown from their boats but not attacked themselves. The sharks seem to really be going for the boats!

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In this video, a group of marine life enthusiasts tests a decoy before sending it out into the water attached to a drone. Soon a great white can be seen moving beneath the water, its interest in the decoy apparent. And then it strikes, with the team recording every moment for posterity. The majestic predator seizes the decoy in its jaws and breaches in an awesome display of athleticism and agility, to the delight of the crew.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Alessandro De Maddalena/Shutterstock.com