Great White's marathon sea trek

Finally, some hard evidence that these great sharks travel super long distances. Satellite tracking great whites off California last year showed that they swam to Hawaii and back, and dived toi great depths during the journey. Now they've been shown to swim from South Africa to Australia and back - a record distance.

A Great White shark crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again within just nine months.

It was one of several great whites tagged by researchers in an attempt to improve conservation strategies.

Writing in the journal Science, they say the journey is unparalleled among fish - only tuna come close.

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The shark at one point dived to 1,000 metres, but for more than 60% of the journey swam within five metres of the surface. Scientists think this may have been for navigation purposes.

See the story on South Africa's Independent Online.
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