Baby Great White Shark Spotted in Wild for First Time Ever off Santa Barbara Coast, Researchers Believe

Rare Footage of Newborn Shark May Be Key to ‘One of the Holy Grails of Shark Science’

Front view of the great white shark Phillip Sternes and Carlos Gauna observed near Santa Barbara on July 9, 2023. | Credit: Carlos Gauna/The Malibu Artist

In a rare and extraordinary moment, images of a newborn great white shark were captured off Santa Barbara’s coast for what may be the first time ever.

Wildlife photographer and filmmaker Carlos Guana, “The Malibu Artist,” was filming great white sharks with UC Riverside biology doctoral student Phillip Sternes in July of last year when he “came across a very peculiar looking shark” that was 5 feet long and white all over.

On that particular day, he wrote on Instagram, he saw what he thought to be a pregnant great white, which then disappeared under the water moments before the small, white-looking shark popped up to the surface. Sternes said that they observed the shark’s “white layer” shedding off as it swam, and he thinks it was the shark shedding its mother’s intrauterine milk that is secreted during pregnancy.

White shark shedding its pure white outer layer. | Credit: Carlos Gauna/The Malibu Artist

Guana has a track record of spying on sharks, but this was something he’d never seen before.

“Where white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they are born, nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive,” Gauna said in a news release by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

“There have been dead white sharks found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like this.”

The two wrote and published a paper on the significant finding in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal. They list two hypotheses: that the shark they saw was, in fact, a newborn great white, or that it was a shark with a rare skin condition.

However, the two are almost certain that it was a baby great white. Guana had observed what looked to be pregnant great whites in the area previously, including only three days prior to the white shark’s appearance. The shark was also very small, and Sternes said it was most likely only hours or one day old at most.

Side view of the newborn great white shark. | Credit: Carlos Gauna/The Malibu Artist

Central California, too, is believed to be a birthing location for great whites. While there are many “hypothetical areas,” Sternes said, “no one’s seen a birth or a newborn pup in the wild.”

In the last two years, Guana helped researchers identify Southern Santa Barbara County, mostly around Carpinteria, as a nursery for juvenile sharks. According to Santa Barbara/Hawai‘i nonprofit Reef Guardians, who monitor the area, juvenile great whites have been observed entering the local nursery during springtime.

While many scientists believe great whites are born farther out at sea, this pup would have been born in shallow waters, since it was filmed so close to shore.

“Further research is needed to confirm these waters are indeed a great white breeding ground,” Sternes said in the AAAS news release. “But if it does, we would want lawmakers to step in and protect these waters to help white sharks keep thriving.”