A great white shark photographed by a fisherman in the Var, an extremely rare event in the Mediterranean

It's hard to believe his eyes. A few days ago a fisherman sent a video of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias, its scientific name), walking in the waters of the Port-Cros national park, in the Var, to the Elasmed observatory in the Ailerons association via its links with APECS, Breton associative counterparts. “This is superb news for this species, classified as critically endangered and having almost disappeared from the Mediterranean”rejoices Matthieu Lapinski, president of the Ailerons association, interviewed by Nice Morning .

These images were then sent to the Natural History Museum for expertise. The French specialist, Samuel Iglesias, confirmed that it was indeed a great white shark, according to our colleagues. A rare event since, according to scientists, 90% of the population of this species in the Mediterranean has disappeared. Only 40 encounters with this type of shark have been documented in the Gulf of Lion since the Middle Ages.

“Now it will be very interesting to try to understand why the great white shark was there”declares Sophie-Dorothée Duron, the director of the Port-Cros National Park, interviewed by the Var newspaper. Lots of questions therefore remain unanswered.