Great White Shark Lets Diver Touch His Nose

A great white shark in the waters off Guadalupe Island, Mexico, allowed one diver to touch his nose as another diver offered him some bait according to Caters News Agency. A 47-year-old Russian photographer by the name of Dmitry Vasyanovich snapped the photo showing their encounter.

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The area in which this dangerous act took place is a popular spot for diving with sharks according to The Mirror. Tourist activity in the area provides cash that is essential to efforts in the area to conserve the species. The great white shark population is considered vulnerable because of over-fishing. They are responsible for over 130 deaths in the last 25 years.

The great white shark pictured was lured toward the cage with bait at the end of a line. The creature knocked the cage, causing it to swing from side to side in the depths of the ocean water. The great white shark did get hold of the bait, however, and as one diver reeled in the bait in order to draw the creature closer, another diver squeezed his body between two of the bars on the cage and reached out to try to touch the great white shark.

The shark was swimming in the oceanic waters off the shore of Guadalupe, a small volcanic island located about 240 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The clear blue waters as well as the great white shark population draw tourists to the area. Visibility in the waters is about 36 to 45 meters. 171 different great white sharks have been spotted in the area.

Last week, a fisherman caught a great white off a California pier according to reports from NBC Los Angeles. Passerby Penny Novak saw the fisherman struggling with the shark. She described what she saw.

“When we looked over the edge, there it was. Its head was fully out of the water, its mouth was open. It was just like something out of a movie.”

Novak recorded the struggle with the great white shark on her phone. She said it lasted about 15 minutes, until it went under the water then emerged for a moment before coming out of the water one more time, breaking free of the line, and returning to the waters. Scientists say that the warmer waters caused by El Nino probably lured the animal closer to the beach than usual.

A rare pale great white shark great white shark was recently found dead on an Australian beach in Port Hacking in New South Wales according to The Inertia. The shark beached itself for unknown reasons and is believed to be quite young. The shark has been identified as a leucistic great white shark pup. It was initially reported as an albino shark, but it was later clarified that because its eyes are black instead of red or purple, it is not albino. The animal showed no signs of injury but witnesses report that it thrashed about in the ocean waters for a time before ending up on the beach.

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Great white sharks are the largest known predatory fish in the world. They average four-and-a-half meters in length and can weigh up to 2250 kilograms. They can grow up to over six meters, but there have been reports of some as long as eight meters. They are also known as great whites, white pointers, white sharks, and white death. Their only natural predator is the killer whale. Humans are not their preferred prey, but great white sharks are responsible for more reported fatal and unprovoked attacks on humans than any other shark. With 300 teeth, they don’t chew their food, but rather use their teeth to tear them apart before swallowing them whole.

[Photo via davidpstephens/Shutterstock]