One of the biggest Great White Sharks ever tagged off the coast of Western Australia surfaced again near Albany yesterday after a distressed whale beached itself on the weekend and attracted said shark to the area, prompting authorities to close beaches and issue warnings to swimmers while also giving cause for wide-spread awe at just how fuck off big this shark is, I mean, can you even with this thing; it’s like Jaws, but also really beautiful and terrifying and majestic.
According to the ABC, the 5.04m shark was implanted with an internal acoustic tag near Mistaken Island earlier this month in a procedure that involved putting the female shark in a state of “tonic immobility”, effectively rendering it asleep and docile while a lil’ acoustic tag was slipped into its cavernous gut so it can be tracked for the next ten years.
A Department of Fisheries spokesman labelled the procedure “impressive” (“In this instance the shark came pretty much instantaneous back to life… She was quickly released so she swam off very strongly”); which, of course, it is – but by no means is it anywhere near as impressive as this singular specimen of the deep.
‘Straya.
via The ABC
