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‘Giant’ Great White, Auckland’s Jaffa Shark, Caught On Camera

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 22:48 PST, Feb 2, 2015

A great white shark, described as “giant” by some observers, has been photographed by a New Zealand fisherman, giving credence to reports of a “Jaffa” shark in Auckland’s upper harbor.

The photograph was taken by Silvio Caldelari, and relayed to New Zealand Fishing News, according to Stuff.Co.Nz. Caldelari had managed to hook a kingfish when the white shark appeared, attacking his catch. A lure that the fisherman was using caught on the shark, prompting a two hour battle between the angler and the great white. At one point, Caldelari tried to cut the trace, but the shark broke away.

According to Fishing News, the angler’s photograph proved that he had indeed faced off against a white shark.

“The accompanying photo supports Silvio’s claim that the culprit was probably a white pointer (great white) about 3.5 m in length and weighing approximately 200 kg,” it noted.

Though the shark wasn’t spotted again after it broke away from Caldelari’s line, the interaction nonetheless gives credence to reports of a large great white in Auckland’s harbor. In December, a group of fishermen were after snapper off the Te Atatu Peninsula when they claimed to have hooked a white shark. According to the New Zealand Herald, angler Jaan Robertson fought the shark in an attempt to free it from his line.

“I don’t want to kill an animal like that or hurt it, so if I can get it closer to the boat and cut the line off at its mouth it’s going to have a better chance of surviving,” he noted at the time. “But then it did another jump and the line broke. I think it landed on the line.”

More recently, a surprising concentration of juvenile white sharks was spotted in New Zealand’s Kaipara Harbor. As Inquisitr previously reported, researchers were stunned to see 11 sharks at a single site, breaking their previous record of eight. The scientists were able to tag and track several of the sharks, which were thought to be feeding along the harbor’s tidal flats, helping to shed light on the poorly understood distribution of the species in New Zealand waters.

Data indicates that the area around New Zealand may serve as either a breeding ground or nursery area for great white sharks.

[Image: Silvio Caldelari via Stuff.Co.Nz]

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