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Scientists have spotted a newborn great white shark cub live in the wild for the first time, near the California coast, as reported in a paper published in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes.
The discovery was made during a shark search on 9 July 2023 near Santa Barbara. The newborn cub was pure white in colour, but analysis of the images showed that the white colour had an outer film that was gradually shed during swimming. This is thought to be a layer of uterine nutrients that persisted after birth, but scientists concede that the film could have been the result of a skin disease.
