One of the largest Great White sharks ever recorded was caught this past weekend off the coast of Mexico, a 20-foot monster that weighed approximately 2,000 pounds.
The Great White was hauled up by two commercial fishermen in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, apparently in a net, according to local news reports.
The fishermen had no idea they’d captured the massive shark until it was brought to the surface, believing instead they had merely netted a large haul of smaller fish, one of them said in an interview with Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in the Baja California resort city of Cabo San Lucas.
The publication identified the two fisherman as only Guadalupe and Baltazar.
The shark was dead when it was brought to the surface.
“The fishermen, whose skiff measures 22 feet and is powered by a 75-horsepower outboard, required an hour to tow the carcass two miles to the coast,” according to GrindTV.com. “About 50 people helped drag the behemoth onto dry sand.
The Great White was measured at six meters long, or 19.8 feet.
That would rank it among the largest Great Whites ever recorded, although it appears several have weighed considerably more, including one landed in south Australian waters in 1959 that weighed 2,660 pounds.
Great White sharks live in almost all coastal and offshore waters which have water temperature between 54 and 75 Fahrenheit, with greater concentrations in the United States (Atlantic Northeast and California), South Africa, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and the Mediterranean.
Adult white sharks were once believed to be infrequent visitors to the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California. But it’s now believed that parts of the gulf serve as a nursery for the species.
“While it’s unusual that fishermen will land sharks that large, the occurrence of large adult white sharks is not uncommon for Gulf waters,” said Christopher Lowe, a Southern California white shark expert who has conducted extensive tagging studies involving the species.
“In fact, several satellite tagged sharks from California and Guadalupe Island (west of Baja California) have traveled into the gulf,” he added. “So we know they are there.”
(Above: The massive Great White shark caught off the coast of Mexico this past weekend. It was 20 feet in length and estimated to weigh 2,000 pounds, making it one of the largest ever landed. Photo credit: GrindTV.com.)
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 
I clicked ‘like’ but I didn’t mean it 😉 Sharks *shudder* please tell me that this is a photoshopped monster, otherwise I might never go to the beach again….
As far as I know, it’s all too real. I can remember when I used to surf off the coast of central California and I’d be sitting on my board waiting for a wave, imagining what was below, looking up at me. This was what usually came to mind.
That thought would definitely get you speeding onto the next wave!
The 2nd officer of the Titanic had a few run-ins with what he referred to as “John Shark”. After reading what he had to say and reading other books, I can’t say that I would want to go anywhere around ‘shark territory’. Great post and what a monster!
I’ve swam quite a few times in “shark waters” and never heard of anyone having any issues, but I’ve also read stories like that about what happened to the sailors aboard the USS Indianapolis when it sank in 1945, so I can understand your consternation. Whenever my girls express concern about sharks, I always tell them far more people die from bee stings than sharks. That usually just makes them more frightened of bees, though.
Earlier research that you are more likely to be hit by lightning than get attacked by a shark has recently be shown to apply only if you are not in the ocean.
That is one anorexic Great White if at 20ft it only weighed 2000 lbs. Shouldn’t it have weighed at least 2000 kgs?
You would think so, wouldn’t you? I think a lot of the times both length and weight for the big sharks is nothing more than guesswork. And it doesn’t help that most everyone but the US uses metric, which can cause confusion when relaying information. But, yes, a 2,000-pound, 20-foot great white would be a skinny shark.