Figure 1.— A 4 m male white shark rolling ventral side up to 

 feed on the tail section of a dead 14-15 m fin whale. The white 

 shark's head is under the fin whale toward the right. 



white shark of 4-5 m appeared within minutes of 

 the boat's arrival and patrolled or fed for 10-15 

 min. The observers believed that three to six dif- 

 ferent white sharks fed on the fin whale during 

 this week; however, only one white shark was 

 observed patroling and feeding at any one time 

 after the initial discovery. 



On 6 July 1979, two of us (H. L. Pratt and J. G. 

 Casey) visited the whale carcass, which was in an 

 advanced state of decay. A 4.5 m white shark 

 soon appeared after the boat arrived at the fin 

 whale. The white shark slowly circled the boat 

 and the fin whale, then disappeared. It returned 

 and repeated this behavior at 2-4 h intervals oc- 

 casionally feeding on the fin whale. 



Although the blue shark, Prionace glauca; 

 shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus; and other 

 pelagic sharks are abundant in this area in July, 

 they were conspicuously absent from the vicinity 

 of the fin whale carcass. Blue sharks were being 

 caught 5-10 km away from the fin whale. Ken 

 Grimshaw, an experienced fish spotter pilot, 

 made several flights over the area, and saw 



no blue sharks or fish schools within a 3.2 km 

 radius of the whale. It is not unusual for fisher- 

 men to report poor catches just prior to a white 

 shark sighting. We suggest that in these cases, 

 the white sharks territorially exclude other 

 species from the area. 



Strength.— Based on the amount of time and size 

 of tackle needed to land a large white shark, its 

 strength assumes heroic proportions. The 

 harpoon dart entered the body cavity of the 457 

 cm white shark forward and below the right 

 pectoral fin, pierced the stomach and lodged in a 

 5 kg piece of whale blubber. The white shark 

 then towed a 29 1 keg and 26-30 m of 9.5 mm 

 nylon line for 14% h. Nine of these hours were 

 spent with added resistance from the boat 

 through 80-lb test fishing gear attached to the 

 keg. In its final dive, it pulled a heavy nylon line 

 out of the hands of four men. In a similar 

 situation in June 1978, a white shark reported to 

 be 10 m long towed Captain John Sweetman's 42- 

 ft (12.8 m) charterboat backwards a distance of 

 22 km in 13 h before breaking free (Simons 

 1978). 



Discussion 



The occurrence of large white sharks in the 

 shelf waters of the New York Bight is a well 

 established, though often overlooked, fact. Dif- 

 ficulty in observing, field-identifying, and 

 catching white sharks has resulted in a poor 

 understanding of their presence and numbers. 

 Their occurrence in these shelf waters may be 

 related solely to feeding habits; however, it may 

 also be related to reproductive activity. Judging 

 from newspaper and other photographs, most of 

 the large white sharks in this area are females 

 that are approaching maturity (3-4 m FL) or are 

 mature (4-5 m FL). At least three mature males 

 were attracted to the dead fin whale. The 

 presence of mature individuals of both sexes 

 suggests that these offshore waters may be a 

 seasonal mating ground for the white shark. 



The presence of young (118-150 cm FL) white 

 sharks in coastal waters of the New York Bight 

 (Casey and Pratt unpubl. manuscr.) and the 

 presence of very large females suggests that 

 pupping may occur here or enroute during the 

 spring migration. 



Documentation in popular literature (Bald- 

 ridge 1974; Ellis 1975) and commercial motion 

 picture films indicate that white sharks attack in 



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