Alessandro De Maddalena has studied extensively the presence of the great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea, a subject on which he’s the foremost expert. In over 15 years of work, he has gathered approx. 600 records of great white sharks from the entire Mediterranean Sea, creating the Italian Great White Shark Data Bank, representing the most complete and comprehensive research program ever performed on the species in that area. This research has lead him to study distribution, habitat, movements, size, reproduction, behavior, diet, attacks on humans, and fishery of the great white shark. The same research has lead him to undertake a complete study of white shark items preserved in natural history museums of Europe. Alessandro De Maddalena has also studied the biology of all shark species inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea, the fisheries and trade of sharks in Italy, the colouration of shark pectoral fins, the great white shark items preserved in museums of USA, the classification of sharks preserved in the Natural History Museum of Prague, the interactions between sharks and divers in the Red Sea, the interactions between orcas and sharks; he has reported the first record of the Java shark from the Mediterranean, he has ascertained the maximum size of the shortfin mako and the great white shark, and he has contributed to the study of the basking shark’s growth.
The great white shark attack data he has gathered have been included in the Global Shark Attack File, of which De Maddalena is a Regional Investigator for the Mediterranean.
Results of his research are regularly published in his Books and research reports in peer-reviewed scientific journals.