She is almost as large as the Jaws shark, only she is a real person.
Deep Blue is claimed to be the biggest great white shark ever seen on camera, measuring 20 feet in length.
When Mauricio Hoyos Padilla was shooting for Shark Week on the Discovery Channel in 2015, he came face to face with the now-famous great white.
In the video, Deep Blue approaches a cage with a diver inside, poking it with her nose and lingering around. The diver reaches out and gently touches her front fin before she eventually swims away.
Hoyos Padilla captured the incredible footage off the coast of Mexico’s Guadalupe Island. At the time, conservationists confirmed, Deep Blue was pregnant.
Today, it’s estimated that Deep Blue is around 50 years old. Great whites can live to around 70 years old in the wild. But today, sharks aren’t living nearly as long as they used to — and in turn, not growing as large as they once did.
That’s because environmental contamination, illegal shark hunting, and fishing bycatch are all likely to kill them before they ever get as old and large as Deep Blue.
Deep Blue has been very evasive over the years after being found and tagged during the shooting. In January, according to Hoyos Padilla, he could have had another sight of her, but the shark swam off into the shadows before he could get a decent look.
If that was any indicator, maybe that’s how Deep Blue has grown so old and large: She simply avoids people.
0 Comments