Spotting a great white shark just 300 feet from the beach is usually quite scary. On rare occasions, these apex predators, which can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 2 tons, bite humans.
But that wasn’t the case when a great white shark was spotted near Santa Barbara, California, last summer, as it was a baby. The 5-foot-long marine animal was probably only a few hours old.
This observation is currently causing an uproar among marine biologists. it is, newly published papers, the researchers and filmmakers who captured this shark on camera suggest that this shark is not just a young shark, but a newborn shark. If so, this would be the first newborn observed in recorded history.
In a video shot by nature filmmaker Carlos Gauna, you can see what the authors describe as signs of childhood. Young sharks exude a milky white substance. The remains of the “uterine milk” produced by a mother shark while she is pregnant with her baby; according to Philip Stearns, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Riverside and an author on the paper. (Stearns was with Gauna when the filmmaker’s drone spotted the shark.)
The pair presented other evidence that the shark was a newborn. Not only did the shark look like a baby with its rounded features, but it was also in the area where scientists believe it was a baby great white shark. (Yes, happily, baby sharks are called puppies). Additionally, Gauna observed a large great white shark. He said A few days before the observation, it appeared to be pregnant in this very spot.
Not everyone is convinced that this shark is a newborn.
“There is absolutely no doubt that this is a very young great white shark,” Gavin Naylor, a shark researcher at the University of Florida, told Vox via email. As for whether it was a newborn, he added: “It seems more likely[to me]that this young animal wandered into shallow water when it was just a few weeks old.”
There are several details here that make a convincing counterargument. Naylor said that some of the pregnant great white sharks that scientists have dissected do not appear to have the same white fluid that comes from baby sharks. Also, great white sharks typically give birth to eight to 12 pups instead of just one. So you might expect other newborn babies to be swimming nearby.
In their paper, Stearns and Gauna acknowledge that the white material flaking off the shark may have been caused by some unknown skin disease and does not indicate it is a newborn. .
But what is clear from our observations, and our reactions to them, is that our understanding of even the world’s most charismatic species is still full of holes. “Despite the high level of interest, some major gaps remain in the life history of great white sharks,” Stearns and Gauna wrote in their paper. (One reason: it is really hard This is to capture great white sharks. )
And it’s not just great white sharks that are mysterious, Naylor said. Whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, give birth to up to 300 pups at a time, but scientists don’t know where this happens.
“We know a lot less about most life forms on Earth than people think,” Naylor said. “Pinning down exactly where different species of sharks give birth is one of the hundreds of millions we still don’t know.”
These gaps in our understanding are undoubtedly humbling. Parts of the world are still unknown and there are still frontiers to explore. But they are also weaknesses in our efforts to protect life on Earth. Lack of scientific knowledge about the species makes it difficult to implement the appropriate types of protection. Simply put, it’s difficult to protect sharks if we don’t understand the fundamentals of where their lives begin.
The global population of great white sharks appears to be declining, at least in some regions. according to International Union for Conservation of Nature. The IUCN, an expert on endangered species, has listed this species as “critically endangered.” However, it is not federally listed as an endangered species in the United States.And in California, data suggest The population of great white sharks is increasing, and the area may be turning into a stronghold of sorts.
“If this is indeed a newborn, this region of southern California is extremely important for eastern Pacific great white sharks,” Stearns and Gauna wrote in their paper. Although California’s great white sharks are protected by federal regulations, they can still be caught accidentally, causing harm and even death, they said.
“More research is needed to confirm that these waters are indeed great white breeding grounds,” Stearns says. Said In a statement. “But if that happens, we hope that lawmakers will step in and protect these waters so great white sharks can continue to thrive.”