A big, 15-foot nice white shark was noticed final week off the coast of Santa Monica – sparking real-life Jaws fears for California seaside goers because the predator often stays additional off the coast.
Photographer Carlos Guana despatched out a drone to seize footage of the shark on Thursday after listening to experiences that some Great White sharks had been breaching, or launching themselves out of the water and into the air, he informed the Los Angeles Times.
Video shared to YouTube exhibits the large white shark swimming close to somebody on a paddleboard who seems fully unaware of its presence.
When Guana heard there have been nice white sharks within the space, he assumed they have been juveniles, that are smaller and identified to frequent the world as they’re drawn to near-shore heat waters.
However, when Guana reviewed his drone footage, he was stunned to see an grownup nice white, which often go for colder, deeper waters, swimming close to the floor, about 50 yards off the coast.
“The Santa Monica Bay is known as a nursery ground for juveniles,” Gauna informed the LA Times. “But this was no juvenile. This is the real deal.”
Guana stated he informed an area lifeguard as a precaution, as encounters with violent sharks, like the nice white, are slightly unusual in California.
According to the California Fish and Wildlife, about 200 incidents involving nice white sharks have occurred within the state’s waters from 1950 to 2021. Of these encounters, 107 have resulted in accidents and 16 in deaths.
Attacks from nice whites are additionally extremely uncommon. Fish and Wildlife officers say that whereas the sharks don’t often prey on people, they could pose a menace to people in the event that they discover them on their “turf,” or close to them within the water.
The sighting was extra awe-inspiring than scary for Guana, who took the prospect encounter as a reminder of what great wildlife exists simply off California’s seashores.
“It’s a good reminder of how a great ecosystem exists next to one of the busiest cities in America,” he informed the paper. “And just how rare a shark attack here really is!”
The sighting additionally comes after the largest great white shark ever was tagged off the coast of Massachusetts last month.
Contender, a mature male shark measuring 13.8 feet and weighing around 1,653 pounds, emerged near Nantucket on July 18.
The shark’s tag pinged around 100 miles south of Boston and 30 miles from Cape Cod – a popular tourist destination.
The powerful animal had been tagged in January, around 45 miles off the coast of Florida and Georgia, in order to help researchers and conservationists.
Shark Week 2025, an annual programming block from Discovery, coincidentally began two days later on July 20.