Hopefully your only encounter with a shark in Hawaii will be a shark cage tour. There are some 40 species of sharks in Hawaiian waters. The smallest is the pygmy shark, which is a little less than a foot long, and lives deep in the ocean. The largest shark in Hawaii is the whale shark, some 50 feet long. But the most feared shark in Hawaii is the tiger shark. The tiger shark can be identified by it's blunt snout and vertical stripes on its sides. The tiger shark is the shark most credited for bites on humans in Hawaii. White sharks are also very dangerous, but they are rarely seen in Hawaiian waters. The occurrence of sharks biting people in Hawaiian waters is rare, about four times a year. While this number is small compared to how many people swim in Hawaii, its still a risk.
   There is a way to see a shark up close in it's own habitat. Hawaii shark cage tours allow people to get into a cage and be underwater face to face with a shark. The shark cage has plexiglass windows and sharks can often bump their nose on the window right in front of you. The sharks seen on a shark cage tour range from 5 to 15 feet in length. Shark cage tour companies guarantee a shark encounter or you dont pay. Shark cage tours are somewhat controversial in the scientific community which questions if sharks should be lured with food while humans are in the water.