Monstrous Great White Shark Captured on Video Stalking the Waters Off Adelaide Beach in South Australia

A great white shark was captured on video lurking in the waters off Adelaide beach in the state of South Australia during the weekend.

The incident prompted beachgoers and local authorities on high alert, raising the potential for yet another shark attack in the waters of Australia, which saw a fatal attack in February 2022.

Adelaide Great White Shark

(Photo : Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

In a video report, The Sydney Morning Herald said a massive great white shark was spotted off the waters of a South Australian beach, where ocean-goers were left shocked when the predator was seen swimming close to a beach in Adelaide, South Australia.

The report said the warm weather in South Australia has attracted not only beachgoers but also the marine animal which was swimming near the shore of the busy Adelaide beach.

Witnesses from a boat reportedly believed that the shark had a size of four meters in length and compared it as large as the size of their vessel.

Beachgoers were on high alert on Saturday, January 7, after the shark was spotted 500 meters from the coast of Aldinga Beach in Adelaide at around 8:30 a.m. local time, according to Australia's 9 News.

Members of the Surf Life Saving Patrols had not started yet their duty during that day, which led the witnesses to call the police to help alert the public.

The Adelaide beach shark sighting came after a fisherman encountered a shark with a size of 2.5 meters at a Perth beach on the night of Wednesday, January 4.

Also Read: Genetic Analysis of Great White Shark Reveals Surprises

Australia Great White Shark Population

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's leading scientific research body, issued a research report stating its findings regarding white shark movement patterns and behavior, as well as juvenile nursery areas and adult population in the waters of Australia.

The main shark habitats were classified as the eastern population and southern-western population.

The eastern population spans from the cold waters as far as Macquarie Island and into the tropical waters of Papua New Guinea, extending eastwards to include New Zealand and tropical islands such as the island nation New Caledonia.

Meanwhile, the southern-western population ranges from western Victoria state to northwest of Western Australia state.

Based on the report, CSIRO has determined several destinations of great white shark populations when they are moving around continental Australia, which range from the Montebello Islands in the northwest off Western Australia, south coast of central Queensland, and the waters of Tasmania.

The research organization estimated that there are possibly around 5,460 individuals in the eastern population but there could be more than 12,802 great white sharks lurking in the waters, as cited by 9 News.

However, the estimates for the south-west population are still not year clear.

In terms of worldwide shark attack statistics, Australia has a total of 12 unprovoked shark incidents and the it ranks second after the US with total of 47 confirmed cases, according to the International Shark Attack File of the Florida Museum.