Video Shows Great White Shark Looking Huge Until Bigger Shark Appears, Too, in Boat Footage
Great white sharks are the largest predatory fish on earth.
Observers who watched a 10-foot-long great white shark swim up to cage divers probably thought they were seeing the best show they'd catch all day — until that shark was upstaged by one that was even larger. Read on to see video of the fearsome event and find out how social media commenters reacted and how big great whites can really get.
In video shared by Twitter account The Depths Below, two sharks swim by a group of cage divers. At the start of the video, a huge-looking shark is seen swimming near the vessel. Then an even bigger shark appears, seeming to push the smaller one away with its tail. The Depths Below wrote the video shows the "size difference between a 10-foot great white and a 16-foot great white." The footage has racked up 1.3 million views. Keep reading to learn more and see the video.
It's unclear where the video takes place, but great white sharks are found in cool waters throughout the globe. They are the largest predatory fish on earth, according to National Geographic. Great whites can grow to a length of 15 to 20 feet and can weigh up to 2.5 tons.
There are about 100 shark attacks worldwide every year, and half of those are attributed to great white sharks. "Most of these, however, are not fatal," says National Geographic. "Research finds that great whites, which are naturally curious, often 'sample bite' then release their human target. Fatal attacks, experts say, are typically cases of mistaken identity: Swimmers and surfers can look a lot like their favorite prey—seals—when seen from below."
More shark sightings than usual have been reported up and down both coasts this summer. Last month, 21 great white shark sightings in two days forced Cape Cod beaches to close to swimmers. On Aug. 18, a group of fishermen watched a massive great white swim by their boat in San Diego's Mission Bay. And earlier this summer, a great white got up close to an angler's boat near New Jersey's Cape May; they said the sighting was scary but exciting after they posted the video online. August is the peak month for great white shark sightings, followed by September, the Boston Herald reports.
Perhaps inevitably, one Twitter commenter shared a GIF from Jaws, in which the police chief played by Roy Scheider smokes a cigarette and declares, "We're gonna need a bigger boat." "I know Great Whites can get big, but seeing the scale is a totally different perspective," said another. "The big one uses its tail to give a little warning to the teenager," wrote one Twitter user. "There's always a bigger fish," another concluded.
Size difference between 3m great white and 5m great white pic.twitter.com/AAfIhlMW2J
— The Depths Below (@DepthsBeIow) September 10, 2022
