A magnificent great white shark has been captured on film by sport fishermen enjoying a day out in the sun off the coast of Lampedusa, south of Italy, on Saturday 23 May 2020
Salvatore Sicurello shot the footage and uploaded it to Facebook, and it has been shared thousands of times since. The shark can be seen cruising close to the boat, with its dorsal fin occasionally breaking the surface.
Initially, some viewers questioned whether it was a great white or its close relative the mako, but now it seems pretty definite that it was a great white shark after several experts looked at the video.
Great white sharks are known to inhabit the Mediterranean, but it is still fantastic to see dramatic footage like this showing the animal in its natural environment.
NB: This is why I view any alleged sighting of great white sharks off the coast of the UK with a huge amount of scepticism. These days, virtually everyone has a phone with a decent camera in it, and yet despite claims that great whites have ‘swum around the boat', or ‘passed close by' in our waters, there has never been any definitive footage like this.