Diet of Juvenile White Sharks

Understanding the nutritional goals of white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, is giving insights into what drives human-shark conflict and how the species can be best protected.

When the stomach contents of 40 juvenile white sharks caught along the coast of eastern Australia were examined by scientists, they found remains from a variety of fish species that typically live on the seafloor or buried in the sand. The shark diets consisted of 32% mid-water fish, 17.4% bottom-dwelling fish, 14.9% batoids such as stingrays, and 5% reef fish. Marine mammals, other sharks, and cephalopods (squid and cuttlefish) were eaten less frequently. “Sharks hunting larger prey, such as dolphins, is not likely to happen until later in life, when they reach about 2.2 meters [7.2 feet] in length,” said lead author of the study Richard Grainger. Larger sharks likely require more fat in their diet for energy during migrations.

Read more at The University of Sydney…

rainger R, Peddemors VM, Raubenheimer D, Machovsky-Capuska GE. (2020) Diet Composition and Nutritional Niche Breadth Variability in Juvenile White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). Front Mar Sci [Epub ahead of print]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00422