Watch This Underwater Photographer Swim with One of the Largest Sharks Ever Recorded

Here's something awe-inspiring to start your weekend with. In the below video, underwater photographer and dive expert Ocean Ramsey has a close encounter with what she says is "possibly the largest great white shark ever recorded."

The footage was captured on January 15, 2019 off the coast of Oahu in Hawaii. Ramsey not only swims alongside this massive titan of the deep, the video shows her making contact with the shark, which is estimated to be 20 feet long and eight feet wide.

"This gentle giant swam up and brushed up against our boat repeatedly," Ramsey said afterwards. "There is a theory that large females come here when they are possibly pregnant trailing whales. There was a dead sperm whale in the area, and we did observe her from a distance swimming over to it and eating it on a regular basis throughout the day. Sharks role in the ecosystem, to pick off the dead, dying, weak, wounded, sick, injured, etc. there by keeping lower trophic levels healthy and in balance."

Some marine biologists criticized Ramsey after the video was shot saying, with some level of obviousness, that it's foolhardy to get this close to a massive wild predator. Ramsey, however, argues that it's these types of videos that give viewers a greater appreciation of sharks so they can play a stronger role in preserving them.

"I have so much respect for sharks for their ecological role, scientifically, culturally in Hawaii as aumakua, and from a conservation standpoint I’ve dedicated my life to speaking up for them and educating others about them and their plight while studying to continue to understand more about them," Ramsey said. "We hope these images and videos will spark a movement for more laws to protect sharks here in Hawaii and around the world."

In a similar vein, check out this amazing photo we featured showing a freediving photographer's own close encounter with a huge blue shark. 

Via Twisted Sifter 

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