A great white spotted off the Majorca coast might be the first in four decades.
Researchers from the marine conservation group, Alnitak, spotted what is believed to be the first white shark in waters off Spain’s Balearic Islands in over 40 years. The last confirmed sighting of a great white in the Balearics was in 1976.
The group, which was doing surveys of oceanic plastic debris, posted video of the encounter on its Facebook page. Team biologist Fernando López filmed the approximately 5-meter shark for eight miles over 70 minutes from Cabrera Island.
“In the past years there have been possible unconfirmed sightings and various rumours, but this is the first scientific verification of the presence of a Carcharodon in Spanish waters in at least 30 years,” the group wrote in its posting.
Some biologists have questioned whether the species seen in the video is actually a great white.
“Having seen part of the video, I am inclined to believe that it is actually a shortfin mako, a species seen more frequently in the Mediterranean. I also do not think, despite what has been said, that this specimen measures five meters. However, we must be thorough and view more images,” Gonzalo Mucientes, a shark biologist at the CBIO research center at the University of Porto in Portugal, told the Spanish publication El Pais.
Shortfin makos and great white sharks share many similar characteristics and are often mistaken for each other.
“The quick movements of the animal lead me to believe that it is shorter than five meters,” explains Mucientes. “As for the morphology, the snout is pointed, long and sharp, like that of a mako. The coloring, especially the absence of dark spots under the pectoral fins, is a feature that is not shared with the white shark.”