Search for the Ocean's Super Predator, The (ATOM Study Guide)

Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. – Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

The great white shark is widely regarded as the 'top predator' of the world's oceans. Massive, fast and lethal, it would have little to fear from any other animal in the sea. We humans have an unreasonable fear of them – it was the shark that featured in the Jaws movies. In fact, statistically, they are very little threat to us, but we remain in awe of their reputation.

Ten years ago, a team studying great whites off the southern coast of Australia was astonished to find themselves looking at data that could only be interpreted in one way – a great white shark had not only been attacked, but also eaten. What could have preyed on such an efficient predator? A marauding gang of killer whales (orcas)? The mysterious giant squid that regularly battles with sperm whales? A massive, cannibalistic shark? Or, even more fascinating, a monstrous unknown marine beast that prowls the southern coast, a legend among the old whalers of south-west Australia?

One member of the original shark-tagging team, diver and wildlife photographer Dave Riggs, became infatuated with discovering the identity of this unknown super predator. But his window of opportunity has been small. For just a few weeks every year, a small zone off the southern coast of Western Australia draws a remarkable number of apex predators, far more numerous than could normally be expected. And then, suddenly, they are gone until the next season. No-one knows why this phenomenon occurs. So identifying a predator that could take a three-metre great white also meant investigating what drew it to the area ... this remarkable explosion of life in a patch of perhaps only ten square kilometres.

Curriculum relevance
The Search for the Ocean's Super Predator is recommended for use with middle to senior-secondary and tertiary students in studies of Biology, Earth & Environmental Science, Science and Media Studies.