Science has confirmed it: the great white shark also lives in Valencian waters. A new study, recently published in the specialized journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, has documented and genetically certified the capture of a young specimen off the coast of Santa Pola and the island of Tabarca.
The event, which took place on April 20, 2023, marks a milestone in Spanish marine biology. It is an “adolescent” shark—a juvenile male— approximately 210 centimeters long and weighing between 80 and 90 kilograms.
Although the capture was accidental, subsequent study has shed light on one of the most fascinating and endangered species in the Mediterranean.
DNA to clear up doubts: it was not a mako shark
Details of young individual bycaught: A) The gaffed specimen is brought on board; B) detail of the mouth, of which the characteristic triangular teeth (↑) of Carcharodon carcharias are clearly visible; and C) detail of the caudal fin, of which the arrows depict the caudal keels.
At first glance, it is easy to get confused at sea. In fact, historically many fishermen have called the great white shark a “shortfin mako.” To avoid mistakes, the team of researchers from the Oceanographic Center of Malaga and the University of Cadiz did not rely solely on photos.
Tissue samples were taken from the animal and subjected to rigorous genetic analysis (DNA barcoding) to determine whether it was a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).
The result showed a 98% match with Carcharodon carcharias. This confirms that the “king of the sea” continues to inhabit the Spanish Mediterranean, an area where its population has fallen dramatically in recent decades.
Despite the discovery, what is truly significant for the scientific community is not only that there is a shark, but that it is so young.
Until now, it was believed that breeding areas (shark “nurseries”) were far away, in the Strait of Sicily or the Turkish Aegean.
However, the appearance of this specimen in waters near Alicante raises two theories: that this young specimen has made a very long migration from the central Mediterranean; or that there is an undiscovered breeding area much closer to the Spanish coast, which would change conservation priorities on our coastline.
Why are they approaching our coast?
Map of the records of white shark specimens reported on the Spanish coasts, both historical (revised by Boldrocchi et al. 2017) and presently reported.
The study highlights a strong synchrony between the movements of white sharks and the migration of bluefin tuna, which enter the Mediterranean to spawn.
Spanish waters, specifically around the Balearic Islands and the eastern Mediterranean, act as a “transit corridor.”
Ecological logic explains that where there is abundant prey, superpredators appear. In fact, the historical decline of sharks in other areas coincides with the disappearance of tuna in those same waters.
From the legend of 1862 to the bitten turtles
The scientific report does not stop at the Santa Pola finding, but compiles evidence showing that, although rare, they have never completely disappeared. From the 1862 attack on a swimmer in Malaga, attributed at the time to a “shortfin mako,” but which, based on the description, corresponds to a great white, to the bite marks on a loggerhead turtle in 2006, to the capture in 2015 of a female measuring more than 5 meters in the Strait.
Experts conclude that the western Mediterranean is a critical habitat for this species and that protecting these waters is vital for a species now considered vulnerable and which can live up to 73 years, although its reproductive period is very long.