Newborn great white shark spotted off US coast marks ‘monumental’ first

A potential scientific breakthrough has been made with the sighting of a newborn great white shark in the wild.

The discovery was made by Mr Carlos Gauna, a wildlife filmmaker, and Mr Phillip Sternes, a doctoral student at the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside), while they were capturing aerial videos and photographs, CNN reported.

The pair captured drone footage of the young shark about 300m off the coast of Carpinteria, California, on July 9, 2023.

The shark’s pale colouring and small size, at just 1.5m long, were unlike those of adult great whites, which are typically grey on top and white underneath.

Upon closer examination of the drone footage, Mr Gauna and Mr Sternes observed a thin, white layer peeling away from the shark’s body as it was swimming.

“I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer,” Mr Sternes said in a UC Riverside media statement on Jan 29, 2024.

Mr Gauna and Mr Sternes’ findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Biology of Fishes the same day.

The authors of the study believe that the shark’s unique colouring could be due to fluids from the uterus, where embryonic sharks are nourished before birth.

“Given that white sharks produce uterine milk, it is within the realm of possibility that either this fluid or another fluid could have adhered to the shark right before birth,” they said in the study.

This observation could prove significant, as the birthplaces of great white sharks remain a mystery to science. If the sighting is confirmed, it would mark the first recorded instance of a newborn great white in the wild.

There are sceptics, however, who urge discretion.

Dr Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Programme for Shark Research, described the claim as “highly speculative”, noting in an e-mail reported by CNN the absence of other pups typically born in a litter.

“White sharks typically have between eight and 12 pups at a time, so where are all the others?” Dr Naylor asked.

Another explanation for the shark’s pale colour is that it could have an unidentified skin disorder. However, Mr Gauna and Mr Sternes noted that “no such condition has ever been reported for these sharks” and assert that the most plausible explanation is that the creature they observed is a newborn great white.

The study noted that the shape and size of the shark spotted were similar to that of a newborn – thin, with rounded fin apexes.

Moreover, other researchers have suggested that the location off the coast of central California is a birthing ground for great white sharks.

Dr Nicholas Ray, a researcher at Nottingham Trent University, regarded the sighting as “fantastic” and potentially groundbreaking for understanding the species’ reproduction.

Shark experts have long hypothesised that great whites are born in shallow, coastal waters, but this has never been observed, until the emergence of the recent footage.

The observations require “further investigation and additional evidence for support or refutation”, according to the study.

“Nevertheless, in either case, the use of the aerial drone has provided shark science with another interesting set of information,” the study’s authors added.

Mr Gauna is convinced he and Mr Sternes’ discovery is a “monumental” one.

“Where white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they are born, nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive,” he said.