Catching a Scent T is great white also depends on his incredible sense of smell. He can smell a single drop of blood in 10 billion drops of water. Nostrils on the bottom of his snout lead to an organ called the olfactory bulb. T e great white’s olfactory bulb is the largest of any shark’s. As he swims, he moves his head from


side to side. Water fl ows in and out of his nostrils. A faint smell enters one nostril. He turns his head to face the current that’s carrying the smell. He zigzags toward it, smelling the water with one nostril and then the other.


Cruising Along T e great white tries to figure out where the scent is the strongest. T en he swims in that direction. His body is shaped like a torpedo, slicing through the water. His skeleton bends and fl exes as he moves. T at’s because it isn’t made of firm bone. It’s made of cartilage. T at’s the same fl exible stuff that’s found in human noses. He swims easily by swinging his back fin


from side to side. It has two parts, called lobes. T ey are about the same size. T is helps him keep his balance. It also reduces friction, and that gives him speed. At his fastest, he can barrel through the water at 24 kilometers per hour.


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