Rare Footage: First-ever Newborn Great White Shark in the Wild

In a groundbreaking discovery, wildlife cameraman Carlos Gauna and UC Riverside student Phillip Sternes have released what they believe to be the world’s first confirmed images of a newborn great white shark in its natural habitat.

The historic moment occurred in the waters near Santa Barbara, California, on July 9, 2023, as the pair were conducting their research.

Initially perplexed by the shark’s appearance – a five-foot-long, ghostly white pup – Gauna and Sternes carefully examined their footage. Upon closer inspection, they observed a white layer shedding from the shark’s body as it swam. Sternes explained, “We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed from the body as it was swimming. I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer.”

This groundbreaking observation is detailed in a research paper published in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal, shedding light on the elusive process of great white shark birth. Great whites are known to give birth to live pups, but the specifics of this process have remained largely unknown and have never been captured on film.

One prevailing theory suggests that while in the uterus, the great white mother provides nourishment to her pup in the form of “milk.” The footage captured by Gauna and Sternes may be a crucial step toward unraveling the mysteries surrounding the birth of these feared predators.

Phillip Sternes shared his insight, saying, “I believe what we saw was the baby shedding the intrauterine milk.” Gauna emphasized the significance of their findings, stating, “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.”

The newborn shark, estimated to be just hours old, was filmed a mere 1,000 feet from the Santa Barbara shoreline. This proximity challenges previous assumptions that great whites must give birth in the open sea, suggesting they might actually give birth much closer to the shore.

Gauna recalled, “I filmed three very large sharks that appeared pregnant at this specific location in the days prior. On this day, one of them dove down, and not long afterwards, this fully white shark appears. It’s not a stretch to deduce where the baby came from.”

The groundbreaking footage marks a significant stride in shark science, offering unprecedented insights into the birth and early stages of life for one of the ocean’s most enigmatic and feared predators.

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