The novel Jaws, published by Peter Benchley in 1973, and, above all, the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg (1975) made the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) famous and feared (mostly unfairly).
It is not necessary to remember that the original title of the book and the film (jaws, which in English means jaws, jaws) was translated into Spanish as Jaws, in a disreputable generalization – of human eaters – that inappropriately affects the 1,200 species of these cartilaginous fish that scientists classify in the superorder of selachimorphs. Even Spielberg ended up regretting that his film served to arouse animosity and slaughter of sharks.
But even large apex predators like white sharks have endearing-looking, helpless pups. One of the curiosities of human knowledge about these large sharks is that until now, quality images of a live newborn calf had never been captured.
Far from best-selling books and blockbuster movies, Carlos Gauna (photographer and filmmaker specialized in nature) and Philip Sternes (doctoral student in biology at the University of California, Riverside, United States), now present what is already considered the first image of a newly hatched white shark. The video and the capture in photographic format, as well as the details of this finding have been published in a scientific article in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes (January 29).
Gauna and Sternes were working on the study of the great white shark off the coast of California when, on July 9, 2023, near Santa Barbara, the camera of one of their drones showed the image of a fish that they were soon able to confirm was of a baby of this unique species of shark.
The Carcharodon carcharias is popularly known as a white shark although its body is mostly gray, with a whitish underside. The shoot observed in these waters off the central California coast was, on the other hand, almost completely white, recall the authors of the discovery, without being able to determine if this is the usual coloration for this species in its first years of life. And although it is estimated that he was only a few hours old (not even days old), experts calculated that he was 1.52 meters (5 feet) tall. Remember in this sense that the most common length among adult white sharks is 5 to 7 meters (males being smaller than females), although cases of exceptional individuals that far exceeded these measurements have been cited.
“We zoomed in on the footage, put it in slow motion, and realized that the white coating was coming off the body as it swam,” Sternes said. “I think it was a newborn great white shark that shed its embryonic shell.”
The article also details the importance of having seen a newborn live white shark, remembering that there have been documented cases of accidental fishing of specimens of these sharks also in their first days of life.
Carlos Gauna is known on social networks as The Malibu Artist. He has spent thousands of hours filming sharks around the world and his videos of these sharks, sometimes near swimmers, have millions of views.
“The birthplace of great white sharks is one of the holy grails of shark science. No one has ever been able to determine where they are born nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive,” said Gauna. “Dead white sharks have been found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like now.”
Although the authors of the article acknowledge that the white film thrown up by the shark may have been a skin condition, the duo do not believe that is the case. “If that’s what we saw, then it’s also monumental because such a condition has never been reported in these sharks,” Gauna said.
Female white sharks give birth to live young. While in the womb, embryonic sharks could feed on unfertilized eggs for protein. Mothers provide additional food to growing baby sharks with a “milk” secreted in the uterus.
“I think what we saw was that the baby was spilling intrauterine milk,” says Sternes in statements reproduced by his university.
A second reason that would confirm that it is a newborn “is the presence of great white sharks, probably pregnant females, in this place.” Gauna had observed specimens with these characteristics in the study area in previous years and in the weeks prior to the observation. “I filmed three very large female sharks that looked pregnant in this specific location in the days before. That day one of them dove in and shortly after this completely white shark appeared,” Gauna said. “It’s not difficult to figure out where the little guy came from.”
Third, the size and shape of the shark are also indicative of a newborn. What the two observed was thin, short and rounded. “In my opinion, this one was probably a few hours, maybe a day at most,” Sternes said.
Finally, this location off the central coast of California has long been proposed as a birthplace of great white sharks. “There are many hypothetical areas, but despite the intense interest in these sharks, no one has seen a birth or newborn calf in the wild,” Sternes said. “This could well be the first evidence we have of a cub in the wild, making it a definitive location for birth.”
Many scholars believe that white sharks are born in areas further away from the sea. That this calf was filmed close to shore is significant because its age means it was probably born in shallow water.
Great white sharks are listed as an internationally endangered species. “More research is needed to confirm that these waters are breeding grounds for this species, and if so, we would want policymakers to step in and protect these waters to help white sharks continue to thrive,” Sternes says.
