![]() “Maybe we just don’t know they’re there and this just provided a rare opportunity to see them.” “Are there more females hanging around the Hawaiian Islands than we know about?” wonders Christopher Lowe, director of the shark lab at California State University in Long Beach. And while great white sharks have likely visited Hawaii for centuries, scientists think there probably isn’t a resident population. Female white sharks seem to be mostly solitary creatures. The sighting is also unusual for both the number and sex of animals spotted. ET on National Geographic Channel, as part of SharkFest. Watch World’s Biggest Great White?, which airs July 21 at 8 p.m. And that meant astonishing underwater views, including photos and video, of Deep Blue and the other great whites feeding, offering a rare glimpse into the lives of these top predators. “It was one of those rare weeks where there’s no wind there’s no swells,” Jeffries says. (Most female great whites average around 15 to 16 feet.) Over three days, Jeffries and her colleagues documented the extraordinary spectacle-while maintaining a respectful distance-as two more mature female white sharks came to chow down on the sperm whale carcass. Stretching some 20 feet from tip to tail, it was the famous Deep Blue, one of the largest great white sharks ever caught on film. Mere moments after she jumped in, something tens of feet below caught her eye: a massive great white shark wending her way up from the deep. It was January 2019, and Jeffries, a Hawaii-based nature and wildlife photographer, had arrived at this spot a couple of miles southwest of Waikiki hoping to catch a glimpse of predators drawn to the floating cetacean feast. "Thank you all for the surface support, surface photos and videos, and putting up with the smell," half-joked Mohler to fellow divers in his Facebook post.ĪBC-affiliate KITV reported that Deep Blue found the whale carcass after it washed up on Sand Island last week, and was later towed out into the ocean.Kimberly Jeffries spotted the dead sperm whale from nearly half a mile away-a white mass the size of a bus bobbing in the calm early-morning waters. Mohler wrote that fellow diver Kimberly Jeffries was the first to see her on 13 January, and the pair confirmed Deep Blue's identity with the white shark authority.Īs Deep Blue fed, she spread "chunks of whale and oil" in the water, he wrote. He said she had come to Hawaii for an "all-you-can-eat vacation." Mark Mohler, a diver who snapped photos of Deep Blue, wrote on Facebook: "Deep Blue, possibly the biggest White Shark identified, coming in at nearly 7 meters, was last spotted in Mexico." "I think the sperm whale kind of presented an opportunistic foraging opportunity so that's probably why people saw this animal," Hutchinson said.ĭivers were able to identify the shark as Deep Blue thanks to a tag she was given when she was found off the coast of Guadalupe Island around two decades ago. The sharks generally gather in Hawaii in the winter when they carry out deep dives during the day, she said, meaning they're not typically spotted by humans. "About 20% of the population from California and Mexico migrate here every year or every other year," Hutchinson explained. The animals have been gathering in the spot "forever," she added. She said it was a "fun surprise" for them when they noticed her. Hutchinson said some of her friends were out at sea searching for tiger sharks when they spotted Deep Blue. Read more: Video: Great white shark swims inches from kayaker's boat off California coast ![]() Melanie Hutchinson, a shark expert at the University of Hawaii, told KHON2 the animal is thought to measure between 15 to 21 feet in length. A great white shark, believed to be one of the biggest on record, has been spotted off the coast of Hawaii.ĭivers found the huge creature, named Deep Blue, as she fed on a dead sperm whale, around nine miles from the coast off the Hawaiian island of Oahu, KHON2 reported.
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