Which shark species is responsible for the most unprovoked attacks on humans?

The great white shark is responsible for the most recorded unprovoked attacks on humans of any shark species.

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are widely distributed predators that often live near coastlines where people swim, surf, and dive. Their large size, powerful bite, and preference for prey such as seals help explain why encounters can be dramatic. International shark-attack records consistently place the great white at the top for documented unprovoked bite incidents.

That statistic does not mean great whites routinely hunt humans. In many encounters, the shark bites once and withdraws, possibly because a human or surfboard does not match its normal prey. Some researchers describe these as exploratory or test bites, while others have examined whether a human’s silhouette can be confused with that of a seal.

Bull, tiger, and oceanic whitetip sharks are also among the species most associated with serious unprovoked attacks. However, the great white remains the single canonical answer when a quiz asks which shark has the highest recorded total.