MOSS LANDING - Federal fisheries regulators are considering putting the great white shark on the list of endangered species.
If put on the list, researchers could look more into the mysterious fish.
And it could prevent accidental catches, illegal fishing and other factors that threaten the species.
Research studies suggest that as few as 350 great white sharks could be swimming off the coasts of the United States and Mexico.
"The great white sharks are very charismatic. They're large. There are instances where they bite people so they are well known to the general public," said David Ebert of the Pacific Shark Research Center of the Moss Landing Marine Labs.
Ebert said the spotlight on great white sharks is part of the reason more money and more research is focused on them.
"Certainly we don't know everything about them. There's a lot that remains to be known about them, but it seems like a lot of the effort could be directed to some of these lesser known species," he said.
Ebert said the great white shark has already benefited from the funding put toward protecting it.
"There's a lot of global initiatives to protect white sharks," he said.
In July, Central Coast News reported on Moss Landing Marine Labs researchers discovering and naming brand new shark species.
Ebert said there is value in learning about all of them, because the great white is not the only predator in the water.
