The internet was sent into a frenzy earlier this month when a ginormous great white shark weighing 450kg and measuring 12ft long was spotted off the coast of the US.
Nicknamed ‘Ironbound’, it was caught swimming northbound near in the waters off Philadelphia.
But what if we told you that the sea monster was nearly just half the size of one of the biggest great whites ever seen?
At 20 feet (6.1 m) and a colossal two tonnes a shark known as Deep Blue is widely considered to be the largest great white ever recorded.
The female was first discovered back in 2014 off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico and is believed to be more than 50 years old.
Due to her size Deep Blue has even developed some notoriety on the internet. Her fame began when she was initially filmed as part of Shark Week but her popularity only really took off when a video of her was posted to Facebook in 2015, which went viral.
Her surge in popularity only continued when she was spotted in Hawaii by researchers who had been in the area to monitor tiger sharks.
Fans of Deep Blue even went as far as starting a Twitter account dedicated to the animal.
But amazingly despite her size Deep Blue is actually thought to be non-aggressive after a recording appeared to show her approaching a diver and several other scuba divers in the area.
Her most remarkable moment came when model Ocean Ramsey was able to hold on to one of her fins while swimming alongside.
A possible reason for the predators placid behaviour around the divers may have been because she had already fed on some of the whale carcass nearby.
However, multiple sources have since disputed whether the shark in the video was in fact Deep Blue with experts suggesting it was most likely another great white called Haole Girl.
Haole Girl, another female shark, is thought to not be as large as Deep Blue but even that is disputed.
Regardless of which shark it was, Ramsey’s video of her touching and holding onto the shark has attracted criticism from researchers.
David Shiffman, a marine biologist, stated that the shark should not be interfered with. He explained that it is an enormous wild predator and that repeated contact from humans can over stress the animal.
Michael Domeier, another shark researcher, also criticised Ramsey’s behaviour.
Domeier stated that the “number one rule” of shark diving was not to touch the sharks. Both researchers considered Ramsey’s behaviour as essentially harassing the animal.
Deep Blue’s friendly demeanour continued when she was filmed in Mexico and was observed swimming around a shark cage calmly and only taking curious bites of the cage itself.
She didn’t attack a diver who was positioned on top of the cage and exposed. The diver was even able to touch her fin but later stated he was only trying to push her away from the cage.
