2014 1/2 oz $0.50 AUD Australian Silver Great White Shark Coin

From the Perth Mint with a maximum mintage of just 300,000 coins! This beautiful Silver coin features one of the most feared creatures on earth: the great white shark. These magnificent animals grow to an average of 15 feet in length and weigh around 5,000 pounds. Their torpedo-shaped bodies and powerful tails can propel them through the water at speeds of up to 35 mph! The great white got its scientific name, Carcharodon carcharias, from the Greek words karcharos, meaning sharp, and odous, meaning tooth. The earliest known fossils are about 16 million years old. However, their evolutionary history is still in dispute between different sharks, including the mako shark and the prehistoric megalodon.

Great whites have an estimated lifespan of roughly 70 years. There are reports of a great white caught in Cuba in 1945 measuring 21 feet long and weighing more than 7,300 pounds! There have been claims of larger great whites, but many of these findings draw criticism for being unreliably measured. Like all other sharks, the great white has electroreceptors called Ampullae of Lorenzini, enabling them to detect electromagnetic changes caused by the movement of a living creature, or even a heartbeat if close enough!

The reverse of these 1/2 oz .999 fine Silver coins shows a ferocious great white shark, with the outlines of two other sharks in the background. The Ian Rank-Broadley likeness of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the monetary denomination of 50 cents (AUD) are shown on the obverse.