Sharks (animal)

Sharks are a species of marine animal that has appeared across Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online, and are set to return once more in Grand Theft Auto VI. Whereas the Vice City and San Andreas versions, modeled on bull sharks, were harmless background creatures that took no damage from gunfire, the species turned genuinely dangerous to the player in Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online. Later games have depicted multiple real-world species, including tiger, bull and hammerhead sharks, typically lurking in the deeper parts of the ocean.

Sharks are confirmed as an animal species in Grand Theft Auto VI, but no specific trailer moment, screenshot, promotional image, region, or in-game encounter is identified. Their appearance in the new Vice City setting is established without any stated information on species model, behaviour, hostility, spawning conditions, or interactions.

In Grand Theft Auto V, sharks inhabit offshore water at different depths and function as lethal hostile wildlife. They are more likely to occur after dark, appear as red enemy blips on the radar, and may follow a swimmer in circles before committing to an attack. Two can occasionally appear together. At the surface, the dorsal fin can sometimes be seen cutting through the water while the animal circles.

A successful bite is immediately fatal, regardless of the protagonist's health or armour. The attack animation has the shark seize its victim and shake them. The Invincibility Cheat does not prevent this death. Dying this way awards the “Out of Your Depth” Achievement/Trophy.

The far edge of Grand Theft Auto V's map uses a shark as part of its boundary enforcement. Once a player reaches the area where vehicles cease operating, a shark is made to appear and kills the player. This is separate from ordinary ocean encounters, where sharks are uncommon enough for Abigail Mathers, during “Death at Sea,” to describe San Andreas sharks as close to extinction.

A shark can be dispatched from a boat with a single gunshot. Other stated methods include striking one repeatedly with a knife while underwater, hitting it with a boat or Submersible, and retreating into submerged aircraft or ship wrecks, which will often make a pursuing shark leave. Knife fighting is described as especially difficult.

The standard PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of Grand Theft Auto V use a shark model combining bull-shark and tiger-shark traits. Enhanced editions identify the playable Peyote-transformed shark as a tiger shark when Trevor comments on it. Hammerhead sharks were added to the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One fauna, alongside the existing tiger sharks, but hammerheads do not attack the player.

GTA Online also uses sharks as enemies in “Setup: Intel,” within the Oscar Guzman Flies Again sequence, where they receive their own radar icon. A dead shark can also appear at random on Cayo Perico's eastern shoreline.

Vice City's sharks resemble bull sharks and can be found throughout the city's waters, though less often than many other marine creatures. Their similar overall shape can lead to confusion with dolphins. They have no swimming animation, do not react to gunfire with damage, and can instead be killed with explosives such as grenades. Searching the water through a sniper rifle is given as a practical way to locate one.

A Vice City manual passage warns of occasional offshore shark attacks and advises people to stay out of the water. That warning may help explain why the game's protagonist cannot swim. San Andreas also includes sharks, but they are exceptionally scarce. Its murkier coastal water, especially near San Fierro, supports the identification of the model as a bull shark, with an appearance close to a tiger shark.