Monster 15ft Great White Shark Stalks Santa Monica Pier (Video)

Gauna captioned the clip: “While searching for juvenile white sharks near Santa Monica, I spotted something completely unexpected—a massive great white shark just offshore. This individual, estimated at 15 feet long, was cruising less than a mile from the Santa Monica Pier. In this video, I break down the sighting, show a live screen recording from my drone, and compare this shark to known juveniles and a confirmed 15-footer filmed in Cape Cod.”

As far as shark activity goes, this area is nothing new to Gauna. But an adult? That’s an anomaly.

“I’ve had a lot of people on Instagram and YouTube reach out to me, saying that they’ve seen white sharks breaching in this area,” he says in the video. “I put the drone up, and I find the 15, 16-foot white shark. So, I’m gonna go let the lifeguards know real quick.”

And by comparison, the juveniles act differently than the adults. Gauna continues:

“Most of the white sharks I film here are small, typically in the five-to-six-foot range. And when you spend time observing them, you start to notice the differences, not just in size, but in movement, posture, and presence. Yes, it’s mainly these juveniles near shore. That much is evident. But there are distinct differences between juveniles and adults. These juveniles are lean, and quite often they don’t have these battle scars. Most notably is the lack of girth. Compare that to the adults. This shark is around 16-feet long; notice how thick it is.”

Just in case it needs to be said once again, the chances of getting attacked by one of these sharks is very, very low. So, don’t let this footage deter you from your traditional ocean activities.