Great White Shark Caught on Camera Off Block Island for First Time

Great White Shark Caught on Camera Off Block Island for First Time

BELOW_SURFACE

While 50th Anniversary showings of Jaws were all the rage this summer on Cape Cod, a new sighting of an actual great white shark helped kick off fall near Block Island.

The summer season may be over, but warm days and even warmer waters still have people (and sharks) enjoying the local beaches. In fact, experts say fall can be the busiest season for many species of shark in Southern New England.

One such species is the great white shark. Generally elusive and difficult to research, a juvenile great white was recently caught on camera off Block Island for the first time ever.

How the Atlantic Shark Institute Captured the Footage

The Atlantic Shark Institute (ASI) recently deployed some custom-built technology, the Baited Remote Underwater Video System (BRUVs). These BRUVs use bait to lure animals in front of protected, waterproof cameras and allow researchers to capture video of them in their natural environment.

In this recent footage from off the shores of Block Island, ASI captured a young great white up close and on camera in Rhode Island waters for the first time ever. Yes, great white sharks have been spotted in RI before, but never captured camera like ASI did in September.

Other Rare Marine Life Spotted Off Block Island

It wasn't the only "first in RI" sighting of 2025 either.

READ MORE: Massachusetts Firsts You Didn't Learn in School

Back in June, ASI recorded a leatherback turtle cruising past their BRUVs off Block Island as well.

Though the massive stingray in this video is also impressive, watching the huge leatherback slowly flap his way by in the background absolutely steals the show.

READ MORE: Creative Bandages Make For Cutest Massachusetts Turtle Rescue

Both 'first ever' sightings in Rhode Island are presumably just the start of exciting new finds now that underwater cameras are watching for sea life in an unobtrusive way that researchers can't do on their own.

I, for one, can't wait to see what they film next.

How to Be Shark Smart

Atlantic White Shark Conservancy shares tips to avoid getting attacked by a shark.

Gallery Credit: Michael Rock

Endangered Sea Turtles Released Back into Atlantic Ocean

The Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue Team saw another set of rehabilitated animals returned to their ocean home recently with the release of five endangered sea turtles down in North Carolina.
One loggerhead sea turtle and four Kemp’s ridley sea turtles were the aquarium's part of a 26-sea-turtle release from four different animal rescues across the Northeast. See these endangered animals as they returned to their ocean home after months of treatment for their cold-stunning damage suffered in Cape Cod Bay.

Gallery Credit: Nancy Hall

New England Wildlife Center's Cutest Turtle Bandage Designs

If you're going to have to replace a box turtle's back end bandages every day, you might as well have fun with it. That must have been the thought behind these fruit themed bandages created by New England Wildlife Center staff.

Gallery Credit: Nancy Hall

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