Jonathan Kieran

The shark captured in this short clip from a fishing boat off the shores of Who-Knows-Where is DEFINITELY a Great White Shark and not a basking shark, as an obviously impressed onlooker in the clip suggested. The distinct, fattened cylindrical shape of its posterior musculature just before the caudal fin is a telltale indicator of the Charcharadon Charcharias species. Moreover, the unquestionable glimpse of a pearly white underbelly beneath the stormy gray dorsal portion of the animal, especially near its torpedo-shaped head, is another key identifying mark.

The shark must have been larger than typical great whites seen by at least one of the observers on the boat because he is immediately impelled to describe it as a basking shark—a huge plankton-feeding species often mistaken for the Great White but which can grow to lengths exceeding 30 ft. An untrained, casual observer would have more likely and immediately blurted that he and his companions had initially encountered a Great White, but in this case, the shark is of such massive size, and he knows that a basking shark would have to be the more likely option because the man is clearly aware that Great Whites do not get that big. Therefore he is instead deliberately cautious, unwilling to label such a large specimen as a Great White; he defaults to a basking shark identification. A few seconds of closer inspection, however, prompts this man to a solemn, ever-so-slightly stunned assertion: “We have a great white shark, here.”

He is certain about it … and shocked. Scrutiny of the clip indicates that this is unquestionably a large adult female great white, but any genuine speculation about its size is pointless because the clip provides absolutely NOTHING that might be useful for scale. Not the figure of a human being or body part in the line of sight as the shark swims majestically. Not even the slightest glimpse of the side of the boat. ZILCH. NADA.

One of the other seafarers, clearly astonished and convincingly so, does speculate that the Great White was 30 ft long, which, when combined with the initial boatman’s uncertain waffling between an identification as basking shark and then stunned recognition of a Great White Shark, adds some degree of credibility to the likelihood that this recreational group ran into a particularly large and even inexplicably oversized Great White Shark.

But that’s all we have. Interviews with those who saw and filmed the shark, along with study of any further footage of the boat itself, might prove interesting, but if that was the only footage they took of such a supposedly massive, “outlier” animal, rather significant doubts and questions emerge, as well.

The peer-reviewed scientific studies that fairly recently confirmed the famous 1987 Australian KANGA and Maltese MALTA sharks as both being 23-footers (with KANGA possessing a viable upper-range possibility of being 27-ft in length) remind us that, occasionally, Great White Sharks at the upper end of the spectrum can approach 30-ft. in length.

That’s harrowing enough, because such sharks would dwarf the much-fussed-over DEEP BLUE specimen of media fame—a gigantic and beautiful animal to be certain, but one which has never been measured and which experts, after studying the famous footage, place more in the still-gobsmacking 17 ft. range.

25 ft+ Great White Sharks are out there, folks, and one of these days, somebody is going to obtain footage of one such behemoth. It’s not a matter of it, but when.

Meanwhile, go get your surfboards and make for the briny. Draw one of those Big Mamas in and hang-ten the hell out of there as fast as you can.

[Jonathan is busy writing and illustrating and finishing a whole slew of projects in preparation for upcoming major releases. Don’t expect a helluva lot of bloggin’ to get done unless something really strikes his fancy. Be patient. Marvelous things are on the way.]

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