A large, 15-foot great white shark was spotted last week off the coast of Santa Monica – sparking real-life Jaws fears for California beach goers as the predator usually stays further off the coast.
Photographer Carlos Guana sent out a drone to capture footage of the shark on Thursday after hearing reports that some Great White sharks had been breaching, or launching themselves out of the water and into the air, he told the Los Angeles Times.
Video shared to YouTube shows the massive white shark swimming near someone on a paddleboard who appears completely unaware of its presence.
When Guana heard there were great white sharks in the area, he assumed they were juveniles, which are smaller and known to frequent the area as they are attracted to near-shore warm waters.
However, when Guana reviewed his drone footage, he was surprised to see an adult great white, which usually opt for colder, deeper waters, swimming near the surface, about 50 yards off the coast.
“The Santa Monica Bay is known as a nursery ground for juveniles,” Gauna told the LA Times. “But this was no juvenile. This is the real deal.”
Guana said he told a local lifeguard as a precaution, as encounters with violent sharks, like the great white, are rather uncommon in California.
According to the California Fish and Wildlife, about 200 incidents involving great white sharks have occurred in the state’s waters from 1950 to 2021. Of those encounters, 107 have resulted in injuries and 16 in deaths.
Attacks from great whites are also incredibly rare. Fish and Wildlife officials say that while the sharks don’t usually prey on humans, they may pose a threat to humans if they find them on their “turf,” or near them in the water.
The sighting was more awe-inspiring than scary for Guana, who took the chance encounter as a reminder of what wonderful wildlife exists just off California’s beaches.
“It’s a good reminder of how a great ecosystem exists next to one of the busiest cities in America,” he told the paper. “And just how rare a shark attack here really is!”
The sighting also comes after the largest great white shark ever was tagged off the coast of Massachusetts last month.
Contender, a mature male shark measuring 13.8 feet and weighing around 1,653 pounds, emerged near Nantucket on July 18.
The shark’s tag pinged around 100 miles south of Boston and 30 miles from Cape Cod – a popular tourist destination.
The powerful animal had been tagged in January, around 45 miles off the coast of Florida and Georgia, in order to help researchers and conservationists.
Shark Week 2025, an annual programming block from Discovery, coincidentally began two days later on July 20.
