A rare sighting of a fully grown great white shark just 50 yards off the coast of Santa Monica was captured on video this week, challenging long-held assumptions that only juveniles pass through the Santa Monica Bay.

The close encounter on Thursday was filmed by YouTuber The Malibu Artist, a marine filmmaker known for tracking sharks along the Southern California coastline. The footage shared with KTLA shows a large white shark swimming near a paddleboarder who appears unaware of its presence.

“I’m conservatively estimating this shark at around 14 to 15 feet long,” the filmmaker wrote in a post on Instagram. “I’ve seen a fair share of sharks in my days, and I’m pretty confident in my estimates.”

He said the shark was first spotted in the northern part of the bay before it began moving s

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