A rare sighting of a fully grown great white shark just 50 yards off the coast of Santa Monica was captured on video this week, challenging long-held assumptions that only juveniles pass through the Santa Monica Bay.
The close encounter on Thursday 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 paddleboarder who appears unaware of its presence.
“I’m conservatively estimating this shark at around 14 to 15 feet long,” the filmmaker wrote in a post on Instagram. “I’ve seen a fair share of sharks in my days, and I’m pretty confident in my estimates.”…