Questions

How High can a Great White Shark Jump?

Won’t it be amazing to see sharks leaping out of the water? Great white sharks are known for their predatory nature but the most interesting part is that these sharks even jump out of the water to prey on seals. Let’s find out how high they can jump with the size of their bodies.

Can Sharks Jump Out of the Water?

Yes, sharks do jump out of the water, either as fun or to catch prey like seals. This moment is less observed as sharks need to put a lot of effort to propel themselves out of the water but this scene can be seen in the regions of South Africa, Australia, North America, and New Zealand.

How High can Great White Sharks jump?

One of the most beautiful images of a shark jumping out of the water is the great white shark on Seal Island, which does it on a daily basis. According to one study, great white sharks may jump up to 8 to 10 feet out of the water. Mako sharks, on the other hand, are thought to be capable of jumping up to 9 meters.

How High can a Great White Shark Jump for Prey Like Seals?

This remarkable behavior of jumping out of the water is known as breaching, and great white sharks use it to catch fast-moving prey such as seals. Sharks can swim at the surface at 40 miles per hour and soar 10 feet in the air; however, breaching is uncommon since the shark must expend so much energy to propel itself.

Which Other Shark Species Leap Out of the water?

Only a fraction of the ocean’s 500 shark species appears to jump out of the water. The great white shark would be the perfect example of it. It’s impossible to image a 2000-pound shark leaping out of the water to hunt, yet that’s exactly what the great white shark does.

Aside from that, you might witness mako and thresher sharks emerge from the sea. This category also includes basking sharks. That being said, sharks must use a lot of energy to propel themselves out of the water, which is why you rarely see sharks jumping out of the water.

Other often visible sharks, such as nurse sharks and hammerhead sharks, are not seen leaping from the water’s surface.

Along with great whites, there are a few other species that have the capabilities to leap. That includes the species known as the Spinner sharks, Mako, and Thresher sharks. Other than that, you may also see basking sharks and blacktip sharks doing the same.

Since giant basking sharks eat plankton, they are not as aggressive or possess hunting capabilities as the great whites. However, when it comes to breaching, you will find them competing enough in terms of speed and energy.

In the case of spinner sharks, as the name implies, they do not only breach but also spin like no other species can do. Surely that is going to be a spectacular display of skill. Blacktips are also believed to fly high in a similar manner.

Talking about who takes the big jump, the spinner and thresher shark both can jump as high as 6 meters or, in other words, around 20 feet high above the water surface. On the other hand, the basking sharks are only able to jump 1.2 meters above in the air. Know that basking sharks are filter feeders, and they mainly rely on zooplankton as their primary food source.

With this, also keep in mind that to propel themselves out of the sea, sharks must expend a great deal of energy, so it’s a relatively rare sight.

Moving forward, the spinner and thresher sharks are not the winners here when it comes to the highest jumping. It is the Mako shark that takes the top position with the capability to leap above the water surface as high as 9 meters, or you can say 29.5 feet.

The bottom line

Great white sharks can jump out of the water around 8 to 10 feet high in the air to catch the prey like seals, but they need to spend loads of energy for this. That’s why it is a rare sight to be seen. Spinner and mako sharks are often seen leaping out of the water but great white shark leaps out rarely.

About the author

Yumna Ahmad

An experienced content writer, photographer, and avid reader amazed by the sea world and its creatures. I am lettin people become fascinated with the ocean planet through my writings.