1.1 t2,430 lb
A big adult female great white shark, about 4.8 m (16 ft) long, weighs around 1,100 kg (2,400 lb). Males stay smaller, usually 400 to 700 kg (900 to 1,500 lb). Size varies a lot with age and sex, and the heaviest reliably recorded great white weighed 2,530 kg (about 5,580 lb).
| Heaviest reliably recordedA 5.55 m shark recorded by a fish wholesaler in China | 2.53 t5,580 lb |
|---|---|
| Pregnant female with 10 pups5.15 m, caught off Toyo, Japan, in 1992 | 2.5 t5,510 lb |
| Big adult femaleAbout 4.8 m (16 ft) long | 1.1 t2,430 lb |
| Adult maleAbout 3.7 m (12 ft) long | 500 kg1,100 lb |
| Newborn pupAbout 1.2 to 1.5 m long, roughly 15 to 30 kg | 25 kg55.1 lb |
It depends mostly on length and sex. Females grow bigger: according to the Florida Museum, males mature at about 3.5 to 4.1 m (11 to 13 ft) and females at about 4.5 to 5 m (14 to 16 ft). A NOAA study of sharks weighed off the US East Coast gives a length to weight formula that puts a 3.7 m shark at about 500 kg and a 4.8 m one at about 1,100 kg, the weight used here.
Weighed sharks back that up. Two pregnant females caught in set nets off Okinawa, Japan, measured 4.95 m and 5.05 m and weighed 1,525 kg and 1,476 kg.
Sharks of the same length can still differ a lot. In the same NOAA study, a shark with a 458 cm fork length weighed 885 kg, while one only 5 cm longer weighed 1,245 kg. About a third of that 360 kg gap was liver alone.
NOAA Fisheries gives great whites a maximum of about 21 ft (6.4 m) and 4,500 lb (about 2 tonnes). The best records come from a 2014 study of 240 records from the northwest Pacific. Its longest reliably measured shark was 6.02 m (19 ft 9 in), caught in the East China Sea, and its heaviest reliable weight was 2,530 kg for a 5.55 m shark. A 3,000 kg figure from Japan was an estimate, not a weighing.
Pregnant females are the heaviest for their length. One 5.15 m female caught off Toyo, Japan, in 1992 weighed 2,500 kg and carried ten nearly full-term pups.
Some famous giants were never weighed. Deep Blue, a female filmed off Guadalupe Island, Mexico, is estimated at about 6.1 m and more than 2 tonnes. A shark caught off Cojímar, Cuba, in 1945 was claimed to be 6.4 m and about 3.2 tonnes, but its weight was only an estimate and later studies put it nearer 4.9 m (16 ft). The shark in Jaws, at 25 ft and three tons, is bigger than any real one on record.
The liver is a great white’s largest organ, and it can make up about 28% of an adult’s body weight. It is packed with oil, which stores energy and helps the shark stay buoyant. In six large sharks weighed by NOAA scientists, the liver ranged from 14.6% to 22.7% of body weight, up to 250 kg (550 lb) in a single shark.
Because the oil makes a shark float better, Stanford researchers have used changes in tagged sharks’ buoyancy to track how much fat they carry on migrations of more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles).
An earlier, widely cited study estimated that 30 kg (66 lb) of whale blubber could keep a 943 kg great white going for about 1.5 months. A 2013 study that tracked how fast sharks actually swim found they burn energy much faster: the same meal would last only about 12 to 15 days.
That study worked out a daily need of 1.2 to 1.9% of body weight. For its sharks, which averaged about 430 kg, that is roughly 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb) of food a day, or about a quarter of a weaned fur seal pup.
A big adult female weighs about 2,400 lb and an adult male usually 900 to 1,500 lb. The heaviest reliably recorded one weighed about 5,580 lb.
Great whites are born live, about 1.2 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) long. Going by the smallest free-swimming great whites weighed in two large studies (12 kg and 16 kg) and nearly full-term pups of 1.35 to 1.51 m, a newborn weighs roughly 15 to 30 kg (33 to 66 lb).
Yes. Females mature at about 4.5 to 5 m and males at about 3.5 to 4.1 m, so a typical adult female weighs roughly twice as much as a typical adult male. Pregnant females are the heaviest for their length.
The longest reliably measured was a 6.02 m (19 ft 9 in) shark from the East China Sea, and the heaviest reliably recorded weighed 2,530 kg (5,580 lb). Bigger claims, like the 1945 Cuban shark, were never properly measured or weighed.
They grow slowly. NOAA Fisheries says males mature at about 26 years and females at about 33, and they can live 70 years or more.
Last checked October 3, 2026.
