<P> In great white sharks, sexual dimorphism is present, and females are generally larger than males . Male great whites on average measure 3.4 to 4.0 m (11 to 13 ft) long, while females at 4.6 to 4.9 m (15 to 16 ft). Adults of this species weigh 522--771 kg (1,151--1,700 lb) on average, however mature females can have an average mass of 680--1,110 kg (1,500--2,450 lb). The largest females have been verified up to 6.1 m (20 ft) in length and an estimated 1,905 kg (4,200 lb) in weight, perhaps up to 2,268 kg (5,000 lb). The maximum size is subject to debate because some reports are rough estimations or speculations performed under questionable circumstances . Among living cartilaginous fish, only the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and the giant manta ray (Manta birostris), in that order, average larger and heavier . These three species are generally quite docile in disposition and given to passively filter - feeding on very small organisms . This makes the great white shark the largest extant macropredatory fish . Great white sharks are at around 1.2 m (3.9 ft) when born, and grow about 25 cm (9.8 in) each year . </P> <P> According to J. E. Randall, the largest white shark reliably measured was a 6.0 m (19.7 ft) individual reported from Ledge Point, Western Australia in 1987 . Another great white specimen of similar size has been verified by the Canadian Shark Research Center: A female caught by David McKendrick of Alberton, Prince Edward Island, in August 1988 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Prince Edward Island . This female great white was 6.1 m (20 ft) long . However, there was a report considered reliable by some experts in the past, of a larger great white shark specimen from Cuba in 1945 . This specimen was 6.4 m (21 ft) long and had a body mass estimated at 3,324 kg (7,328 lb). However, later studies also revealed that this particular specimen was actually around 4.9 m (16 ft) in length, a specimen in the average maximum size range . </P> <P> The largest great white recognized by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is one caught by Alf Dean in the south Australian waters in 1959, weighing 1,208 kg (2,663 lb). Several larger great whites caught by anglers have since been verified, but were later disallowed from formal recognition by IGFA monitors for rules violations . </P> <P> A number of very large unconfirmed great white shark specimens have been recorded . For decades, many ichthyological works, as well as the Guinness Book of World Records, listed two great white sharks as the largest individuals: In the 1870s, a 10.9 m (36 ft) great white captured in southern Australian waters, near Port Fairy, and an 11.3 m (37 ft) shark trapped in a herring weir in New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1930s . However these measurements are not scientific and researchers have questioned the reliability of these measurements for a long time, noting they were much larger than any other accurately reported sighting . Later studies proved these theories correct . This New Brunswick shark may have been a misidentified basking shark, as the two have similar body shapes . The question of the Port Fairy shark was settled in the 1970s when J. E. Randall examined the shark's jaws and "found that the Port Fairy shark was of the order of 5 m (17 ft) in length and suggested that a mistake had been made in the original record, in 1870, of the shark's length". These wrong measurements would make the alleged shark more than five times heavier than it really was . </P>

How does the great white shark get its food