Huge Great White Shark ‘high-fives’ diver, goes viral (video)

17 Jun 2015

Stock image of an average Great White Shark

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water a video of a humongous Great White Shark emerges and both terrifies and fascinates everybody.

The video of the shark, which appears to be more than 20ft long, swimming in front of divers in a shark cage, was actually made in 2014, but has gone super viral since it was posted to Facebook last week.

One of the most remarkable parts of the one-minute long video is that the shark appears to high-five one of the divers when he swims up out of the cage.

Great White Shark

The shark appears to high-five the diver

However, shark researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, told Live Science that what was actually happening was that the diver, Joel Ibarra, was trying to protect the shark by ensuring it didn’t hit itself off the pointy end of the dive cage.

“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,” said Padilla.

The recording of the pregnant female shark, who is nicknamed Deep Blue, was made off the coast of the island of Guadalupe, which is off the coast of Mexico.

It is one of the biggest Great White Sharks ever spotted — average female Great White Sharks are generally between 14 to 17 feet long.

And while it may be true that, in reality, humans are more deadly for sharks than sharks are for humans, this reporter certainly won’t be jumping at the chance to swim off the coast of Guadalupe anytime soon…

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note – because sometimes the lighter side of STEM should be taken seriously, too.

Great White Shark image via Shutterstock

Brigid O Gorman is a former sub-editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com