How many fins does a great white shark have?
The Great White Shark, also known simply as the “White Shark”, or “White Death”, has four main fins altogether. The three most obvious are, the two pectoral fins on the sides, and the large dorsal fin on the back. The smaller harder to see second dorsal fin is lower down the back. Here starts the debate about the number of fins. Many people refer to the tail as the “tail”. If the tail is referred to as a fin then the name of the fin is “caudal fin”, and there are several other small fins that the average person is not aware of and has never really seen. They are the pelvic, and the anal fin. Lastly, there is the tiny fin spine, which is very hard to see. If you count all of these including the “tail” as fins, there is a total of eight all together. This is a highly adapted species and listed as “vulnerable” with the “population trend unknown” by the IUCN Red List. For more details, please see sites listed below.
