![]() ![]() They are the largest predatory fish in the world, known for their speed and strength. On average, they reach a length of 15 feet. But some are much, much bigger.ĭeep Blue is one such shark-this female great white is thought to be the biggest in the world. She is an estimated 20 feet long and weighs over 5,500 pounds. It is thought that she is over 50 years old. Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, a shark expert and researcher, was the first person to ever meet Deep Blue. ![]() It was November 2013, and Hoyos Padilla and a team of researchers were working to track great white sharks ʜᴜɴᴛɪɴɢ elephant seals off the coast of Guadalupe Island-a small volcanic island that sits about 160 miles from Baja California that is known for its population of great whites. The footage of her being discovered first aired in 2014, as park of a Shark Week documentary. “We were looking for a shark to set a transponder and follow it with a special device from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute known as a shark-cam,” Hoyos Padilla told Newsweek. “This device is able to get readings about speed, depth, orientation, topography and it has 6 cameras installed mostly on the frontal part. We tried to tag her but the tip did not work properly and we had to jump into the mother boat to fix it.” While the teams worked to fix the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the ginormous shark disappeared to prowl underneath a nearby ecotourism boat.We all know how dangerous sharks are, that’s why as much as possible, we avoid sharky surfing spots and wear all sorts of deterrents to keep them away from us - but what if one day you encounter the largest shark you’ve ever seen while you’re diving? “Suddenly this huge female passed under the boat and we were amazed by her size. That’s exactly what happened to shark movement specialist, Mauricio Hoyos Padilla and his team, when they spotted a massive female great white in Guadalupe Island, Mexico in 2013. However, their first interaction with the shark wasn’t caught on tape, so they came back on the second day. Luckily they saw the same shark circling around them once again, and this time, their encounter was caught on video by Michael Maier. You’ll see how one of the divers touched the shark’s fin while she took curious bites on the cage. When the diver pushed her away, that’s when they realized how huge the shark was in actuality, and they were beyond amazed. ![]() Y ou can watch the unseen footage taken by Maier below. In 2014, they uploaded the said video and it piqued everyone’s interest, gaining thousands of views shortly after it was released. ![]() The shark became an ocean celebrity overnight and was featured in Discovery Channel’s ‘Shark Week’ episode. From then on she became widely known as ‘Deep Blue’. Unfortunately, Padilla’s team wasn’t able to tag Deep Blue that time, therefore her location and whereabouts are still unknown until today. According to Padilla, however, Deep Blue’s movements are predictable because of the female migration patterns of great whites. Every two years, researchers and experts spot her returning to the west coast of Baja, Mexico where she was first seen to reproduce during the mating season.įast forward to 2019, the queen of the ocean made a surprise appearance once again in Oahu, Hawaii where a group of marine biologists tracking tiger sharks found her scavenging food from a sperm whale’s carcass. In the recorded video, Deep Blue’s non-aggressive temperament showed as she calmly approached and swam with the divers as well as several dolphins.īut we all know that sharks are known to be aggressive to humans, so what could be the possible reason behind Deep Blue’s placidity? Turned out, she wasn’t interested in having test bites with the humans surrounding her that time because she’s already fed - and not because she’s an even-tempered sharky. Model and free diver, Ocean Ramsey, saw Deep Blue’s calm behavior as an opening, so she took the chance of swimming alongside the shark, which she managed to pull off. Because of this theatric, Ramsey became the first person to swim alongside the gentle giant. ![]()
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