'First-ever sighting' of newborn great white shark possibly captured in California

A duo in California could be pulling back the curtain on one of the oldest oceanic mysteries — newborn great whites.

Carlos Gauna, a wildlife filmmaker, and Philip Sternes, a University of California biology doctoral student, were scanning the waters in Santa Barbara looking for sharks when Gauna's drone caught footage of something unique, according to a news release from the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside).

"We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed from the body as it was swimming," Sternes told UC Riverside. "I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer."

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Great whites are called white sharks by the science community due to their white underbelly and gray top half, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This shark was "roughly 5-foot-long" and "pure white", UC Riverside reported.

The observations have been documented in a new paper featured in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal, detailing the significance of the discovery.

"The paper suggests that it was only hours to days old. The white substance could have been uterine milk which mother sharks produce to feed the embryos," Fox Weather reported. "The usual gray became evident after the layer sloughed off."

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Sternes and Gauna believe it is in fact a baby white shark (not pictured) because of the shape of its fins. (iStock)

Sternes' and Gauna's observations could help solve the mystery behind the great white's birthing habits.

"Where white sharks give birth is one of the holy grails of shark science. No one has ever been able to pinpoint where they are born, nor has anyone seen a newborn baby shark alive," Gauna said, according to UC Riverside's release.

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"There have been dead white sharks found inside deceased pregnant mothers. But nothing like this."

The baby great white shark (not pictured) was supposedly pure white upon its birth and the gray started to show after the uterine milk layer had been shed.  (iStock)

The report acknowledged that if the footage was showing a shark shedding its skin (rather than a baby shark), it could be the result of a skin condition, but Gauna and Sternes don't believe this is the case, UC Riverside reported.

"If that is what we saw, then that too is monumental because no such condition has ever been reported for these sharks," Gauna said. 

One of the major factors that has led Gauna and Sternes to believe this is in fact a baby white shark, is because there were "large, likely pregnant great whites" in the location where they captured the footage.

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"I filmed three very large sharks that appeared pregnant at this specific location in the days prior. On this day, one of them dove down, and not long afterward, this fully white shark appears," Gauna said.

A filmmaker and a doctorate student in California may have uncovered the truth behind one of the greatest mysteries after capturing footage of a live newborn great white shark (not pictured). (iStock)

"It’s not a stretch to deduce where the baby came from," he added.

This location off the coast of California had been a birthing location for this species before this discovery.

"There are a lot of hypothetical areas, but despite intense interest in these sharks, no one’s seen a birth or a newborn pup in the wild," Sternes said. 

"This may well be the first evidence we have of a pup in the wild, making this a definitive birthing location," he added.

Fox News Digital reached out to UC Riverside for comment.

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Sydney Borchers is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital.