Gargantuan Great White Spotted at Famed CA Surf Spot (Video)

“White Shark caught in Malibu Pier!” the caption reads. “We were all surprise how close the shark was swimming under and near the pier? Malibu Pier.”

As most surfers were know, the lineup is not far from the pier. And it’s often quite crowded, one of the most crowded spots in California if not the world, even on the most average days. So, this shark sighting so close, and this big of one is…alarming, to say the least.

However, sharks aren’t out to get surfers or swimmers. Don't stress.

In an interview we did with Dr. Chris Lowe, Director of CSULB’s Shark Lab, which SURFER published from last year, Lowe spoke about shark activity, with relation to the low number of bites. Here’s what he had to say:

“When you think about how many people are in the water in Southern California on a daily basis – many of them at these aggregation sites, like Del Mar and Torrey Pines – and there are dozens of cases every day, when a white shark is swimming underneath the surfer, yet still, bites are really rare. So, if you look at the numbers, your probability is really low. We are literally talking about millions of people.

“Sharks are around these people all the time, but they treat them like flotsam. They don’t see humans as food, they don’t pose a threat, and they typically just ignore them. Then we’re wondering: Maybe it’s a good thing that people are around sharks all the time, because it’s helping sharks to identify those objects as people. Not food, not a threat. There should be, like, a bite a month. But there isn’t. Why? We’re studying that.”

And hey, you’re more likely to get killed by a falling coconut than a shark attack.