A newborn great white shark documented for the first time – Natursidan

The discovery was made in July 2023 by the famous nature film director Carlos.Artist Malibu“Gauna doctoral student and biologist Philip Stearns of the University of California, near Santa Barbara on the California coast. They were searching for sharks on July 9, 2023, and suddenly they saw something interesting in the drone camera they were using. Great white sharks with a Gray on top and white on the underside, but the shark in front of her on the screen was completely white and only 1.5 meters long, which is small for a species that can reach 5 meters in length. The smallest great white shark ever spotted was 106cm long.

– The place where white sharks give birth to their young is one of the holy grails of shark research. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they were born, and no one has ever seen a newborn shark alive. Dead white sharks have been found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like that, says Carlos Gaona.

This means that the shark is a newborn

There are several reasons why Carlos and Felipe believe what they saw was a newborn great white shark. For one thing, pregnant white sharks have previously been seen in the area, including in the days before the film below was captured. In addition, one of the pregnant sharks was seen diving into the depths just before the great white shark appeared. Female white sharks give birth to live young. In utero, they can ingest unfertilized eggs and also a type of “milk” secreted in the uterus. Philip Stearns says he believes what appears in the video may be a cub that has shed this milk and that the individual is only a few hours or a day old at most.

-More research is needed to confirm that these waters are indeed breeding grounds for white sharks. But if so, we want lawmakers to step in and protect these waters to help great white sharks continue to thrive, says Philip Stearns.