Association Emergence on Facebook
This white shark was observed off the coast of Var in early November 2024.
ANIMALS – He may have gotten lost after filming Gladiator II. A great white shark has been spotted near the coast of Var, near Porquerolles in the south of France, reported Nice-Morning this Monday, November 18. It was even filmed by a fisherman.
The 3.5 to 4.5 meter long specimen was observed in early November in the Port-Cros National Park. He has not been seen since. “The conclusions are simple, it is a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)”, wrote biologist Matthieu Lapinski on Facebook, a publication shared by the Elasmed observatory.
It is “great news for this species classified as “critically endangered” and having almost disappeared from our French coasts, and even from the Mediterranean due to very disparate levels of protection depending on the country”he added.
The great blue shark, very little observed in the Mediterranean
The Émergence association confirms that this is a “remarkable observation” car “The great white shark is indeed present in the Mediterranean, but in clear decline. From 1989 to 1998, 85 observations were recorded, and only 46 between 1999 to 2008, or -45%.
Asked by Nice-Morning, the director of the Port-Cros National Park Sophie-Dorothée Duron emphasized that “Now it’s going to be very interesting to try to understand why the great white shark was there.”
Although sharks are rarely observed near the French coast, blue-skinned sharks were seen at the beginning of September eating the carcass of a sperm whale near Sanary-sur-Mer.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
