The previous record holder was a great white at the San Diego SeaWorld, released in 1981 after 16 days in captivity.

"She has done better than anyone hoped she would," said Randy Kochevar, science communications manager at the Monterey Bay aquarium.

Unlike other sharks that took a while to navigate around aquarium tanks, she "learned her way instantly," he said.

The shark has been feeding on salmon fillets, mackerel and sardines and sharing her aquarium with hammerhead and soupfin sharks, giant Pacific bluefin tuna, barracuda, stingrays, sea turtles and other fish.

Estimated at 4 to 5 months old, the shark was caught in August and held in an ocean pen off Malibu before being moved to a million-gallon (4.5 million-liter) exhibit tank at Monterey last month.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been studying great whites since 2002 to increase understanding of their behavior and see if it is possible to keep a young shark on long-term exhibit.

The shark will likely be released back to the ocean when it matures, said Kochevar, but he could not say when that could be. "It's very difficult to determine the age of sharks," he said.

Scientists will attach a tag to the great white that will collect information on temperature, depth and light - which estimates where the shark is - and store it in a tiny computer. The tag will later float to the surface where it will beam information via a satellite to a laboratory for analysis.