Carlos Gauna/Malibu Artist
These images show a great white shark covered in a pale membrane that was observed 0.4 kilometers off the coast of Carpinteria, California. The authors of the new study believe it was a newborn great white shark.
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Drone footage taken off the coast of Southern California may have provided the first sighting of a newborn great white shark in the wild.
A 1.5-meter (5-foot) long great white shark was spotted 400 meters (1,300 feet) off the coast of Carpinteria, California, on July 9, 2023, by wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and a U.S. doctoral student. Discovered by Philip Stearns. He worked in the biology department at the University of California, Riverside, shooting aerial video and images.
The pair immediately noticed that it was unusual due to its pale color and size. Adult great white sharks are gray on the upper side and white on the underside.
Gauna and Stearns examined images and video through the drone camera’s viewfinder and noticed that the thin white membrane covering the shark was peeling off as it moved.
“When we enlarged the image and put it in slow motion, we could see that the white layer was peeling off its body as it swam,” Stearns said in a news release. “I believe it was a great white shark that had just shed its embryonic layer.”
While in the womb, shark fetuses eat unfertilized eggs to obtain protein. The mother provides additional nutrition to the growing baby shark with the milk she secretes in the womb. Gauna and Stearns believe that some of this material is what gives the shark its unusual color.
They documented their observations in a study published Monday. Peer-reviewed Journal of Fish Environmental Biology.
“Given that great white sharks produce uterine milk, it is entirely possible that this or another fluid was present on the shark shortly before birth,” the authors write in their paper. study.
If their assessment is correct, this will be the first time a newborn great white shark has been observed in the wild.
“Where great white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science,” Gauna said in a news release. No one saw him there,” he said in a news release. “The carcass of a great white shark was once found inside a deceased pregnant woman. But nothing like this has ever happened.”
Another explanation for the shark’s whitish color could be due to an unknown skin disease, according to the study. However, Gauna and Stearns said in a news release that they believe the most likely answer is that the creature they observed was a newborn great white shark.
Its shape and size were indicative of a newborn, with a thinner body and rounded tops on its fins, the study said. Additionally, other researchers believe that this location off the coast of central California The birthplace of the great white shark.
In their study, Gauna and Stearns also noted that adult sharks were seen in the same area on the same day and the day before the footage was taken.
“In my opinion, this is probably several hours, at most a day old,” Stearns said.
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Shark Research Program at the University of Florida and curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said the sighting may have been a newborn great white, but the discovery was “very unlikely.” “It’s still just speculation,” he added. ”
“Great white sharks typically give birth to eight to 12 pups at a time, so where are the rest?” Naylor, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.
Nicholas Ray, a researcher at Nottingham Trent University in the UK who studies population dynamics of great white sharks in South Africa, called the sightings recorded by Gauna and Stearns “amazing”.
“This observation is extremely important and marks the beginning of scientists’ understanding of the elusive reproductive cycle of this endangered species. It opens the door as a new discovery and the need to strengthen conservation in these areas. ,” Ray, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.
The fact that the baby shark was photographed near the shore could be significant because its age means it was likely born in shallow water. Some shark experts believe great white sharks are born in even more distant oceans, according to a news release.
He is a senior fisheries scientist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and author of Chasing Shadows: My Life Chasing Great White Sharks. ”
“The presence of this young great white shark in this area supports this hypothesis, but no actual births have been observed. This shark is highly mobile, so it can travel considerable distances from its birthing site. We cannot rule out the possibility that it did. In any case, this is a very interesting observation.”
According to the study, this observation requires “further investigation and additional evidence to support or refute.”
“Nevertheless, in both cases, the use of aerial drones provided other interesting information for shark science,” the study authors added.