Great white shark is about 1.50× longer by these reference values.
Great white shark uses a 6 m upper reference, compared with 4 m for Oceanic whitetip. Great white shark's weight reference is about 14× heavier.
ON THE SAME SCALE
Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.
Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.
THE NUMBERS
Side by side.
WHAT SETS THEM APART
More than a size contest.
Length and weight
Oceanic whitetip is represented by reported to 4 m / 13 ft; Great white shark by about 6 m / 20 ft. The comparison deliberately distinguishes the record from common size. Maximum length and mass are exceptional upper-end figures.
Habitat and diet
Oceanic whitetip: Warm open ocean; fishes, squid, turtles and carrion. Great white shark: Temperate seas worldwide; fish, rays and marine mammals.
Bite evidence
Oceanic whitetip: A traceable, species-wide maximum is not available. Great white shark: A 3-D finite-element model predicted the bite of a very large individual; it was not measured on a living shark.
Records are not averages
Both species are living, but record-sized individuals are rare. These upper references should not be read as normal adult size.
TRACE THE CLAIMS