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National Geographic photographer captures first underwater image of Great White shark in Maine [1]
['Ellsworth Toohey']
Date: 2025-07-17
National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry had logged more than 10,000 hours under water during the past five decades, yet he had never seen what glided past him on July 8: a great white shark cruising through the water off Maine's rocky coast.
The encounter lasted "maybe three minutes," Skerry says, then she vanished. In that blink he captured the first confirmed sub-surface photo of a white shark in Maine waters — an almost 10-foot juvenile, "mouth slightly open and white belly glowing against the eerie green water. Her surface reflection hovered above her like a halo."
Great whites have long haunted the Gulf of Maine; 1,000-year-old teeth turn up in archaeological digs. Overfishing in the 1970s-80s wiped out roughly three-quarters of the population. Rebound came in stages: the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act safeguarded seals (the shark's favorite entrée), 1997 federal limits curbed shark fishing, and a 2005 Massachusetts ban on fin sales put the final lock on the cage. Researchers have now tallied 100-plus individuals along Maine since 2012.
Skerry's advice: treat the ocean like hikers treat grizzly country — respectful, alert, and awestruck.
Previously:
• Tomato Shark tears through tomatoes
• Great white shark eats seal off Alcatraz Island
• First drone video of orcas hunting and killing a great white shark
• Shark robs gas station
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