Largest predatory fish

The largest predatory fish is the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) found in temperate offshore waters worldwide, particularly off South Africa, Australasia, Japan and western USA. Adult specimens average 4.3–4.6 m (14–15 ft) in length, and generally weigh 520–770 kg (1,150–1,700 lb). The largest specimens can grow in excess of 6 m (19 ft 8 in) long.

There are numerous accounts of great whites (particularly females) growing to extreme sizes beyond the average. A 6-m (19-ft 8-in) shark was found near Ledge Point, Western Australia, in 1987. In 1983, David McKendrick caught a 20.3 ft (6.1 m) great white off Prince Edward Island, Canada, as verified by the Canadian Shark Research Centre. Several decades earlier in June 1945, a 21-ft (6.4-m) specimen (estimated to weigh 7,100 lb/3.2 tonnes), dubbed "El Monstruo de Cojimar", was captured by six fishermen off the town of Cojimar in Cuba with photographic evidence of its body on the shore.

As of 2022, the largest living great white is believed to be "Deep Blue", a female estimated to be 6.1 m (20 ft) and weigh more than 2 tonnes (2.2 US tons) that was first filmed off Guadalupe Island, Mexico, by researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla in 2014. She is thought to be around 50 years of age.

A few historic claims talk of huge specimens in excess of 10 m (33 ft) in length but none of these have been properly authenticated.