Seeing a great white shark in the wild is an awe-inspiring sight, largely because of the threat that the animals pose if a human found themself in one's path. Before they grow into apex predators, great whites are juveniles, but the species' early stages of life remain somewhat of a mystery.
Two researchers in California are putting the focus on young great whites. Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Guana and biology doctoral student Phillip Sternes teamed up to take aerial video and images off the coast of Carpinteria, CA when they noticed something unusual. They saw a small five-foot-long white shark covered in a thin, white film that was withering away as it moved.
"We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed from the body as it was swimming," Sternes recounted in a statement. “I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer."
Up until now, it's believed that a newborn great white has never been captured on film before. Sternes and Guana shared the video and published their findings in a study in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal.
"Where white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they are born, nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive," Gauna said in a statement. "There have been dead white sharks found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like this."
Some researchers believe the area where they found the fish off the coast of central California is a birthing ground for great whites, which would align with Sternes and Guana's observations. "I filmed three very large sharks that appeared pregnant at this specific location in the days prior. On this day, one of them dove down, and not long afterwards, this fully white shark appears," Gauna said. "It’s not a stretch to deduce where the baby came from."
As for its age, it was clear to Sternes that the shark was fresh out of the womb. "In my opinion, this one was likely hours, maybe one day old at most," he said.
Regardless of size, it's probably best to stay away from great whites even if they're babies.
