By Pete Thomas
A great white shark named Deep Blue, measuring 20-plus feet and spotted sporadically at Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, has been called the largest great white shark ever caught on video.
The massive predator was featured three years ago by Discovery, along with researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla.
Two years ago, Hoyos posted a clip to Facebook showing the female shark cruising ominously past an open-topped cage, dwarfing the divers. “I give you the biggest white shark ever seen in front of the cages in Guadalupe Island,” Hoyos wrote.
On Friday, Hoyos shared new footage showing what the researcher believes is Deep Blue swimming in the lightless depths at Guadalupe (video posted above).
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“Deep Blue in deep water?” Hoyos wrote. “We did an expedition on a submersible at 500 feet in Guadalupe Island this week and look what we saw!”
Viewers enjoy only a fleeting glimpse of a giant white shark turning in the vessel’s lights before vanishing in the darkness.
“It’s so big. It’s really big. Wow, look at the belly!” Hoyos says in the footage. “Oh my God… Oh my gosh, it’s really, really big. Wow! Jesus Christ!”
Hoyos confirmed the depth of the sighting – nearly 500 feet – but did not say for sure whether the shark was, in fact, Deep Blue.
Guadalupe Island, 165 miles west of the Baja California port of Ensenada, is seasonal home to dozens of adult great white sharks. Many of the sharks are named, based on distinctive markings, and repeat divers look forward to seeing their favorite sharks on return trips.
Deep Blue, obviously, is one of Guadalupe’s most sought-after sharks.
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