Deep Blue is a 20-foot-long female great white that was first recorded in 2013 by shark researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla.
In the latest video, Deep Blue is seen with two other females feasting on the carcass of a sperm whale off Oahu. National Geographic reports that while great whites are known to visit Hawaii, they tend to stay in deeper waters, so are rarely seen. It says the trio of sharks are the three largest great whites ever recorded in Hawaii.
The last time Deep Blue was caught on camera, she was off the coast of Baja California, in Mexico, around 2,400 miles from Hawaii. The team at National Geographic say this will help them get a better understanding of the migration patterns of female great whites. In the film, they also point out that Deep Blue has a sizeable girth. This could be the result of her being pregnant—or just that she has eaten a lot of sperm whale.
Deep Blue is estimated to be about 50 years old and weighs 2.5 tons. Sharks continue to grow throughout their lives, and the average lifespan of a great white is thought to be around 70 years. This means that, as long as she survives, Deep Blue will continue to grow.
According to the Smithsonian's Ocean Portal, the average female great white shark grows to around 15 to 16 feet in length, while males are smaller, measuring 11 to 13 feet, on average.
The original films of Deep Blue captured by Padilla shows the enormous shark swimming past a cage of divers. In one, the diver appears to give the shark a high five—however, Padilla later said he was just trying to push her away from the cage. "The dive master was pushing the shark away," he told LiveScience. "It has a big laceration on the right side. It was really close to the cage, and they have pointy ends. It is so big it couldn't turn properly. So he was trying to push her away, because he didn't want her to get hurt."
According to newsweek
