The largest great white on record measured 21 feet(6.5 meters) long. Some claim a 23 footer (7 meters) was caught in the Mediterranean. Maybe that Mediterranean one was being followed by 4 Dwarf Lanternfish sharks which is about 6 to 7 inches (16 - 17.5 cm) long. Any way a great white wants to claim he's two feet longer than he is supposed to be, i aint gonna quibble with him.. (02-15-02 nmj) Sorry,SayHi, I made the answer way back when I was just a newbee, a small packet rather than an old bag. I should have given a source, and a bit more info. So how's this? The largest great white on *verifiable and authenticated* record measured 21 feet(6.5 meters) long. Caught off Cuba in 1945. She weighed 7300lbs (3312 kilos). http://www.wavescape.co.za/top_bar/tidings/Sharks/shark_KZN.html http://www.sharkattacks.com/satvermyth.htm The rest of my answer stands. There are claims of larger sharks, but they have not been verified or authenticated by reliable sources, some of them may be innocent exageration caused by the sheer shock of seeinf such a huge fish, others may just be plain ol' sailor tales or fisherman's lies. In every case it is impossible to verify the facts. Say,what's your source? Is it this? "...a *second hand* report of a 11.3 m (37 ft) great white shark stranded in a weir at New Brunswick, Canada in the '30s..." (emphasis added,nmj) http://www.angelfire.com/ok/SeaKing/largest.html Notice the 'second hand'? No one has been able to find an actual witness who so much as saw the shark being measured, much less anyone who actually measured it.

I've read that the white shark caught off of Cuba in the 40's was never weighed. Apparently, experts who've seen the photo seem to think that shark was more in the 16 foot range.

I've read that the white shark caught off of Cuba in the 40's was never weighed. Apparently, experts who've seen the photo seem to think that shark was more in the 16 foot range.

The answer is 37 feet and 24,000 pounds. It was found in a herring weir in New Brunswick in 1930.

Great white shark caught in a set-net in Seven Star Lake, Hualien County, Taiwan, on May 14, 1997. Gross weight of this animal was 2500 kilograms and total length is estimated(?) at 6.7 to 7.0 metres. Source of information is Victor Lin. Possibly the largest great white shark ever recorded. Greetings Julien (The netherlands)

I agree the Great White caught in Cuba was never weighed according to sources. And if you look at the picture it does not look like 21 feet, and the ones sitting on the shark are all children making the shark appear larger.

There are GWS in the upper size range around the Farallones or Ano Nuevo in Central California...i'd say an 21 footer is the biggest GWS some of them are pushing 2.5 tons but that's it...why should you find in the open ocean bigger GWS than at their favorite hunting grounds along the Californian Coast (where they can feed on blubber rich Elephant Seals) on what do they feed in other seas on Dolphins, Sea Turtles, Rays and other Sharks...they need to keep the engines running with blubber rich Elephant Seals or they doesn't grow large. In my opinion the GWS in Malta wasn't bigger than 5.5 meter and the weight was NEVER over 3000 kg i've seen pictures of this GWS and think his/her weight was not more than 1800 kg.

The size of the largest great white still swimming and the largest white pointer ever caught is the real question. Great whites in the upper size range are generally caught to a large extent inadvertently or when targeted with the assistance of very heavy fishing gear, a very experienced fisherman or fishing crew, and finally a very liberal dose of luck. Generally speaking a fish capable of biting through steel wire, breaking chain and straightening a 5mm diameter forged steel hook is not your average catch. Not to mention biting cod ends out of trawl nets designed and manufactured and proven to hold 100 tonne and upwards catches. As an Australian Fisheries Officer I have been called to attend, have been told of white pointer and tiger shark encounters. Most of these encounters centre around areas where big sharks are common ei Whaling Stations, seal colonies and isolated areas. Some of these encounters are as follows. 50s 60s 70s regular snaring of whites using steel nooses over 18 foot specimans to 20 foot Albany Whaling Station Ramp Western Australia. At least 15 individual accounts of larger whites biting off (caught sharks) or cruising feeding of moored sperm whales awaiting processing. 90s to present Port Lincoln South Australia - Regular sightings of white pointers over 6 meters, with the occasional monster being sighted well over 8 meters. 45 individual sightings by Tuna Farm workers Spencer Gulf. 18th of March 2005 Wreck Point Abrolhos Islands Western Australia,Diver bitten cleanly in half first strike, the shark swallowed the remaining half whole on the next turn. Eye witness Albany resident claimed as attested by the 7 crew onboard 6 meters for the record off the record 8 meters I know this because I was taking the statement. Finally great white sharks are the largest fish in the Ocean just because individuals may have been caught a certain length certainly does not mean much larger animals dont exist. I only have too look at some of the set line pictures I have seen and recount the first hand encounters I have had when recovering shark set lines (Banned) only to haul a head of a 12 or 14 foot tiger or hammerhead bitten off behind the gills. Anyway the largest white pointer to be caught as unlucky as it was would have been the white caught in the herring weir in New Brunswick in the 30s. What would a tropical whale shark be doing in an extremely temperate environment feeding on herring.

Phillips Island Victoria Australia has some of the largest great whites known, last year a 23 foot was captured and i have seen the photo it was huge, they measured it to be way over two tonnes and now they say they have spotted the largest shark they have ever seen which is presumed to be 12 metres long and there keeping an eye on it and it is a great white, these are experts that have reported this, the reason you dont here more about this sort of thing is usually because of fear and most common great whites that are seen is usually 12 to 20 ft in length, the ocean is a big place and only 1 percent has been explored so who knows how big these creatures can truely get, and i'm sure theres many more species of sharks yet to be identified.

my uncle who used to live in albany said his old boss had an old B/W photo taken from around the 1920s showing a floating whale carcass with a clean bite taken out of it some 5 - 6 feet wide. like most of you said its a big ocean and as far as GWs and favoured feeding grounds go, shark experts now know that great whites move in identifiable groups, abit like whales and the Whites in the china sea are Not the whites in california. anybody happen to see that underwater photo taken at some drilling platform off scotland from a depth of 300 mtrs? it looks like a White, but its unusual that far north in seas that cold. that story on underwatertimes.com

Based on all the evidence I've seen, it is my opinion that modern great whites probably don't grow to much more than 18- 19 feet in length, and they can weigh well over 4000 pounds, perhaps as much as 5000 pounds. There have been several claims of great whites measuring more than 20 feet, but there isn't much in the way of irrefutable evidence to support these claims. The largest fossil tooth from this species measured three and a half inches, so it did reach lengths of over 20 feet millions of years ago, while the largest modern tooth is 2.76". One of the largest great whites I've ever seen in photos and video footage was a 4000 pound plus female caught by Vic Hislop off Australia, in 1987. While Vic claimed it measured over 22 feet, the video footage I've seen suggests that it was actually in the 16 to 18 foot range, but it was a truly massive fish. While lying flat on the ground, it's back was waist high to the bystanders surrounding it. I'd guess it had to be at least 12 feet around. There's really no need to exaggerate the size of a large GW. They can weigh as much as a white rhinoceros, and they're able to eat a 400 pound elephant seal in ten bites, removing up to 50 pounds of flesh in a single bite. That's plenty big, if you ask me! :)

Almost every claim of GW's over 20 feet have been disproven. The Malta GW was proven to be around 18' by a photo expert, while the Cuban GW was found to be around 16'. The Cuban GW was never actually weighed, but it's liver weighed 1005 pounds. GW's livers typically make up 20 to 25% of their total weight, so while it was an enormous fish, it was definitely not 7000 pounds. The New Brunswick GW was probably only around 10 feet, based on the size of it's largest tooth (1.5") The photo of the New Brunswick GW which appears in the book, "Great White Shark" by Ellis & McCosker was most likely a fake (an opinion shared by the book's authors.)I've had numerous conversations with Andrew Fox (Rodney's son) and he also believes that claims of 20 footers are dubious,at best. I am curious about the Haulien County GW, & I do have Victor Lin's email address. I think I'll contact him regarding this GW, but I'm extremely skeptical, because I haven't seen any truly convincing proof of modern GW's which measure much over 18 feet.

largest Great White recorded in the scientific literature is a 6.1-metre long female captured off Prince Edward Island in August 1983. New burnswick is filled with liars i'm just playin... but this is the largest great white ever scientifically recorded

I love you guys lol, saying, "from what I saw it looked like it was 18 feet" in a photo. Whatever! There is footage on youtube of a Great White in Hawaiian waters - rare - even rarer that the shark is a least 20 feet long. I've been a Great White shark enthusiast for 30 years and know just about every documentary, pic, story, there is. And that shark is 20 feet at least. There are also 20 foot sharks in a documentary filmed off the Northern Californian coast(Ano-Nuevuo Island). "Jaws of the Pacific": Malcom McDowell narrates that the sharks off the Island are well over "5000 pounds" and "over 19 feet long" "...most likely pregnant females"; just as they are described by the specialists who have been studying the sharks at Ano-Neuvo Island for years(John Van Summers and others). Your skeptical, condescending and smug description is simply false. But go on -have a look at the Hawaii Great White and tell me that's a 16-18 foot shark. And I'll tell you that you know nothing about sharks....Great Whites clearly grow to 20 feet confirmed and likely up to 23-25 feet. One of Vic Hislop's sharks is clearly over 20 feet in one of his documentaries( i.e the one where the shark broke the winch that the massive animal was hanging from.)

There was one unconfirmed catch of a Great White which the jubilant Brazilian fishermen measured to be 36 foot in length - ALLEGEDLY. However I must stress the word unconfirmed. Such a claim is highly unlikely. I think the scientifically verified record stands at about 6.1 metres.

I believe one of the largest whites ever caught was in Australia by a man named vic hisplop and it was over 20 feet long

@ Sharky Are you some sort of biologist? You seem to know a lot about sharks. I'm also very fascinated by white sharks. I've searched all around the web looking for pics of big sharks, and reading all I can find about it. I'm also pretty amazed how people can exaggerate about the size of white sharks, although I do believe they can reach 20 feet and above. But those are just so extremely rare, it's very hard to actually document one. There are different ways of measuring a shark, and fishermans sometimes use a method of stretching the upper lobe of the tail and therefore making the shark longer than it really is. One of the most truly impressing large sharks I saw on pictures is indeed the one Vic Hislop caught. This specimen is just a monster of a shark, and looks like the closest thing to Jaws. It definitely looks like it's the heaviest one ever caught, and it's almost certain it weighed above 4500 pounds. But after reading some reports claiming it was never accurately measured, I also became a little bit doubtful about it's size. According to the evidence I've seen, and with compairing it with different pictures of large sharks/crocs, it's difficult to say it's indeed 20 feet with realizing just how long that is. However, there are some indications, looking at the dorsal fin, which is remarkably large. The same applies to the teeth, and the size of the jaw. So I do think you are a little bit underestimating it's size. Maybe it's not 20+ feet, but very likely 18 to 19 feet, although I haven't seen the video footage of it yet. I've searched the web for all the pictures I can find about this shark, but I haven't found many in good quality and taken from a good angle. I know there were more pictures made of this shark by different photographers, and where later published in newspapers and in books. I really hope there is a way of obtaining these better pictures, so it's better to determine the size of this amazing looking creature. I'm also very curious about the video footage that was made of this shark, and I'm wondering where to find it? And to bring this long message to an end: I've also found another candidate for the longest white shark ever caught. This specimen was found in a fishing net in Italy, 1978. http://homepage.mac.com/mollet/Cc/Cc_images/gallipoli-1979_6.2m.jpg This shark would have measured 6.2 meters (20.4 feet), and from the angle it's taken, it surely looks like it. In my opinion, this is the most convincing picture of a 20 footer. Btw, I think the Hawaii great white is around 19 feet long.

Hi, a 5.5 meter female white shark was caught in Brazil (Cananeia City) in 1992. It weighted 3,500 kg and its liver weighted 670 kg. The fish was caught alive, but it died when people tried to transfer the shark to the Santos City Aquarium (a city up North). It was processed by a taxidermist and its body can be seen at the Cananeia Municipal Museum. This shark is reputed by the locals to be the second biggest white shark ever caught in the world (with the New Brunswick - Ca, in 1930, being the first). I presume that other bigger sharks might have been caught in some place else, but this one was carefully examined (an autopsy was perfomed on it). Into its stomach were found a dolphin, 2 heads of other sharks (a blue shark and a stingray shark), and the remainings of 3 turtles. The following link leads to more details (some photos and information in Portuguese): http://www.cananeia.net/tubarao.php

Sharky - you don't have a clue. There are factually great white's over twenty feet. Fact. And over 2.5 tonnes. What you 'think' you see from a picture is nothing. Malta sharks are rubbish - Cuban shark is hard to estimate. Vic Hislop shark - easily over 20 feet. Anybody whose seen the video of them hauling those sharks out of the water can see that is a 20 plus foot shark.... Easy. Have you seen the Hawaii shark yet? How big do you think that is? Let us know...

The Vic Hislop Great white is more in the region of 18 or 19 ft. However it's weight and girth makes the shark look much bigger. In the later stages of Great Whites lives they tend to grow more in girth than in length. The average size of Great Whites that are seen are between 12 and 14ft. Once they get passed the 16ft mark they tend not to get much longer. Being the large size they are at this stage, they need to sustain their huge bodies with more food. Also by the time they are this size they are old enough to be expert hunters that catch prey on less attempts than most other sharks of a smaller size. I agree that there are Great Whites 20ft and over. Sadly most of the large Great Whites were fished out in the 50's,60's and 70's, making specimens over 20 feet in this day and age very rare. I'd much like to see a 20ft Great white swimming majestically in it's domain rather than on the end of a front end loader any day. I have been studying these creatures since I was 6 years old and I still love them more than ever.

That so called GW referred to above in the ROV photo at the old platform in Scotland looks more like a Porbeagle Shark than a GW....same family as the GW and Mako but much smaller (and not uncommon).

This is great!! Can't believe this argument has been going on for so long. Vic Hislop appears to be the most common theme here. Probably is the largest caught too. If you did catch a shark that large (just over 20 feet) then I'm pretty sure it would be measured in a reasonably accurate fasion given the fairly recent timing and media exposure. Looking at the photos that seems to be pretty much on the mark. Then you have to think that if someone caught one that big it's fair to assume that there may be larger specimens out there.....the odds of catching the largest example of a given species is miniscule (almost as small as seeing a 12m GW!!??!!). There was also comment in an earlier post of the "GW" caught on video by an ROV 300m under an oil platform in scotland. Looks more like a Porbeagle Shark to me rather than a GW (same family as GW and Mako but considerably smaller and not entirely uncommon). Fact is, the older the claim, the less likely it is to be substanciated. Even photo's of teeth have been known to be faked; some even have been calved out of a bar of soap. Modern GW's (or "modern claims" from reasonably developed countries with good communication networks) seem to max out at 21-22 feet. Here's one to throw into the mix: What about the claim that there was a 21ft Tiger Shark caught in a shark net off Newcastle on Australias NSW coast. This one was reported to have been accurately measured... Keep up the comments,it's good entertainment value even if inconclusive.