'About 20% of the population from California and Mexico migrate here every year or every other year,' Hutchinson explained. The animals have been gathering in the spot 'forever,' she added. She said it was a 'fun surprise' for them when they noticed her.

Hutchinson said some of her friends were out at sea searching for tiger sharks when they spotted Deep Blue. Read more: Video: Great white shark swims inches from kayaker's boat off California coast Melanie Hutchinson, a shark expert at the University of Hawaii, told KHON2 the animal is thought to measure between 15 to 21 feet in length. A great white shark, believed to be one of the biggest on record, has been spotted off the coast of Hawaii.ĭivers found the huge creature, named Deep Blue, as she fed on a dead sperm whale, around nine miles from the coast off the Hawaiian island of Oahu, KHON2 reported. 'Sharks that live in deep, cold water could be much older - well over 100,' Naylor said.įollow us, Facebook & Google+. Technologies like satellite tracking are revealing more about great whites and their lifestyles, and scientists may yet discover that 50-something giants like Deep Blue are not so rare after all. Great whites are especially difficult to raise and study in captivity, and as with any big marine animal, observing their habits in the ocean depths is challenging and often dangerous, Naylor added. 'There's a lot we still don't know,' said Gavin Naylor, a biology professor at the College of Charleston. Glimpses of exceptionally large great whites like Deep Blue can help to shed light on the many unknowns of these elusive creatures. 'The more big females like Deep Blue that we have in the population, the better off the white shark population will be,' Curtis told Live Science. And bigger sharks are more likely to produce big litters, making larger females important from a conservation standpoint.

The number of young a shark births can vary, but litters with as many as 10 pups have been documented, said Tobey Curtis of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Once females reach sexual maturity in their mid-30s, the sharks can continue to reproduce for the rest of their lives. And being '50 and pregnant' isn't a big deal for a shark. Padilla pointed to her unusual girth as a sign of pregnancy. Great whites inhabit most seas and oceans, and average body size can also vary depending on where the population is found.īut Deep Blue wasn't just longer than the average great white she was also very wide around the middle. Genetics certainly play a part some individuals are naturally predisposed to be larger, and great white females are typically bigger than males, Hammerschlag said.Įnvironment and food supply are also important plenty of nutritious meals would fuel steady growth, as could warmer waters. Skomal's study hints that there may be much older sharks than Deep Blue out there, and they could be even bigger.Īfter reaching maturity, white sharks' growth slows - but it doesn’t stop.Ī number of factors influence shark growth and could have contributed to Deep Blue's unusual size, said Neil Hammerschlag, research assistant professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School and Abess Center. Padilla estimated that Deep Blue was about 50 years old, based on her size. That study also showed that great whites could live to be at least 73. In fact, Gregory Skomal, a fisheries biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and his colleagues found great whites grow even more slowly than scientists had thought: The biologists' research, published in January in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research, suggested males take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, whereas females aren't ready to have babies until they're about 33 years old - much later than once thought.

Video of deep blue shark