The Real 'Jaws' Now in 3-D

July 30, 2007 — With his head inside the mouth of a great white shark this week, biologist Daniel Huber is conducting the most thorough analysis ever attempted of the great white's bite, along with studies on feeding performance in tiger and bull sharks.

The nearly 8-foot-long great white died last September after becoming entangled in nets at Lakes Beach along Australia's Central Coast. Huber, a shark expert at the University of Tampa, and his colleagues are now dissecting the shark's jaws while simultaneously collecting data on the placement and strength of related muscles.

This information will be incorporated into a computer program based on a cat scan of the shark's skull in order to create a very accurate 3-D recreation of the great white bite. The process will be repeated for the other two sharks.

The researchers are not yet sure which shark will prove to be the strongest biter, but Huber told Discovery News the great white probably will not wind up at the top of the list.

"The white has the narrowest head of the three, so it has less space for jaw muscles," he explained. "Consequently, we're expecting that it will have a lower bite force on a pound-for-pound basis."

According to wild animal specialist Jonathan Wright of the London Zoo, current estimates hold that the great white's biting force is around 3 tons per square centimeter. The 3-D model should help confirm or revise that estimate.

Huber said "ideas about shark bite force have been flawed for decades because no one has really taken the time to look into it." He said the force might be lower than the earlier estimates owing to the great white's "relatively simple muscle architecture."

Huber was quick to add, however, that the great white is "a perfect predator" and doesn't need to have the most powerful bite to take down prey.

"Much of the damage inflicted by white sharks is due to their teeth, and not necessarily to the force," he said.

The shark has around 3,000 serrated teeth at any one given time. To initiate a sawing action, the great white will often shake whatever it bites into from side to side. The flesh of the victim then shreds into chunks as big as 11 by 13 inches.