A California duo may be pulling back the curtain on one of the oldest ocean mysteries: the great white shark.
According to a news release from the University of California, Riverside, wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and University of California biology doctoral student Philip Stearns were scouring Santa Barbara waters looking for sharks when Gauna… A drone has reportedly captured some unique footage. (University of California, Riverside).
“We zoomed in on the image, put it in slow motion, and noticed that a white layer was peeling off its body as it swam,” Stearns told the University of California, Riverside. “I believe it was a great white shark that had just shed its embryonic layer.”
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According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, great white sharks are called great white sharks in the scientific community because of their white bellies and gray upper bodies.
The shark was “approximately 5 feet long” and “all white,” according to a report from the University of California, Riverside.
This observation is documented in a new paper published in the journal Environment Biology of Fishes, which details the significance of this discovery.
“The paper suggests it was only hours to days old. The white material may have been uterine milk that the mother shark produces to nourish her fetus.” Fox・Weather reported. “After the layers peeled off, the normal gray color was revealed.”
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Stearns and Gauna believe it is actually a baby great white shark (not pictured), based on the shape of its fins. (St. Petersburg)
Stearns and Gauna’s observations may help solve the mystery behind great white shark birthing habits.
“Where great white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science,” Professor Gauna said in a release from the University of California, Riverside. “No one has ever seen the baby alive.”
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“There have been cases where great white shark carcasses have been found inside deceased pregnant women, but nothing like this.”
The baby great white shark (not pictured) is believed to have been completely white when it was born, but began to show gray after the milk layer of its uterus was shed. (St. Petersburg)
The report acknowledged that if the footage shows a shark molting its skin (rather than a baby shark), it could be the result of a skin disease, but Gauna and Stearns do not believe this is the case. No, the University of California, Riverside reported.
“If that’s what we saw, this is also monumental because such conditions have never been reported in these sharks before,” Gauna said.
One of the main factors that led Gauna and Stearns to believe this was actually a baby great white shark was that there was a “large, potentially pregnant great white shark” in the area where they shot the footage.
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“I photographed three very large sharks that appeared to be pregnant at this particular location a few days ago. On this day, one of them jumped off and shortly afterwards this complete white shark appeared. ” Gauna said.
A California filmmaker and PhD student may have uncovered the truth behind one of the biggest mysteries after capturing footage of a live newborn great white shark (not pictured) . (St. Petersburg)
“It’s not unreasonable to guess where the baby came from,” he added.
This location off the coast of California was a birthing site for this species even before this discovery.
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“There’s a lot of room for hypothesis, but despite the intense interest in these sharks, no one has ever seen them give birth or see their newborn pups in the wild,” Stearns said.
“This could be the first evidence of a pup in the wild, making this the definitive birthing site,” he added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the University of California, Riverside for comment.
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