A Westpac Lifesaver Rescue helicopter crew keeping watch over the waters of Marino Rocks in Southern Australia have reportedly photographed a massive great white shark just 100-200 meters off the shore of a local beach.
Estimates on the size of the great white shark put it at about 7 meters, although because the photograph was taken from a helicopter, there was no actual way to confirm the size, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.
Great white sharks this large are rarely photographed; although there are tales of great white sharks growing up to 11 meters in length, the largest confirmed great white shark was 6.4 meters in length.
“It's the biggest I’ve ever seen as a crew member in the Westpac chopper, we put it down as 7m; the photo really doesn't do it justice,” Shark Alerts South Australia noted on their Facebook page on January 17th, the day of the sighting.
"It's the biggest Iv ever seen as a crew member in the Westpac chopper, we put it down as 7m the photo really doesn't do...
Posted by Shark Alerts South Australia on Sunday, January 17, 2016
Because the length could not be confirmed, there are obviously some skeptics saying that the size may have been over-estimated, although if the estimates are true, then this is certainly a big discovery.
The only thing the crew had to go by were their years of shark-sighting experience; they regularly spot sharks from the skies, and they believe that this sighting is one of the largest they’ve ever come across.
Swimmers located at the nearby beach were evacuated from the waters soon after the sighting to prevent any lethal encounters. Authorities were called out on jet boats to investigate the situation, but by the time they arrived, the large shark had reportedly swum into deeper waters.
Source: Tech Times