Great White Powering Through The Surface

3.5m Great White Shark propels her body out of the water to try and surprise the bait handler.

Accelerating upwards from below to catch prey is one of the Great White Sharks most effective hunting strategies. Around the Island at this time of year, the juvenile seal pups are beginning to make their initial runs from the island. The inexperienced seals are ideal prey for the sub adult white sharks in the bay  to hone their hunting skills on. Great White Sharks can quite often propel their whole body out of the water whilst hunting in this way. This behaviour is known as breaching. 

This video was taken at Seal Island in Mossel Bay a harbour town on the Garden Route in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. You can see other similar behaviour in some of the other clips on the channel.

In the video you see the 3.5m female Great White launch herself out of the water. This is only a partial breach, in reality a shark this size has the power and speed to be able to clear the surface of the water if she wanted to. As apex predators Great White Sharks don't expend unnecessary energy if they don't have to, it isn't a wise move when your next meal isn't guaranteed.

You can also see from the video that the shark is fairly relaxed. Her eyes are not rolled back and her top jaw doesn't extend. Her eyes not being rolled back in her head indicates that she is confident she isn't going into a potentially damaging situation as she would do if she was breaching on a seal at high speed.