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This week, a rare sighting of a fully grown white shark, just 50 yards from the Santa Monica coast, was filmed on video, challenging the long-standing assumption that only a boy would pass through Santa Monica Bay.
Thursday’s close encounter was filmed by Youtuber The Malibu artist, a Marine filmmaker known for tracking sharks along the Southern California coastline. The footage shared with KTLA shows a large white shark swimming near a paddle border that appears to be unaware of its presence.
“I’m a modest estimate of this shark at 14-15 feet long,” the filmmaker wrote in an Instagram post. “I’ve seen quite a lot of shares in my time, but I’m pretty confident in my estimates.”
He said the shark was first discovered in the north of the bay before Santa moved south towards the Santa Monica Pier. “It’s an unlaminated white shark,” he pointed out. “As airspace restrictions, I banned it from following it to the pier, but it was heading south. I think it’s going through the bay.”
Santa Monica Bay is widely known as a hot spot for young white sharks, but filmmakers say the sightings prove a bigger point. Great white adults also frequently make these waters.
He said public messages around sharks in the area often downplay their presence and perpetuate the misconception that adults are not nearby.
“There are no rules at the ocean,” he said. “The big sharks live there. We’re more often than we think.”
Despite being close to the coast and despite unsuspecting beach fans, he emphasized that shark attacks remain extremely rare.
“It reminds us that we live next to these apex predators every day, and that is a testament to how unusual negative encounters with people are.”
The full video can be found on the Malibu artist’s YouTube.
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