Although not nearly as large as an adult great white shark, the all-white tope shark caught by an angler off the coast of Britain might just be the first of its kind ever captured.
According to news reports, Jason Gillespie was fishing off the Isle of Wight when he caught the 3-foot-long shark. Its all-white appearance is due to a condition called leucism, which renders the animal unable to produce pigment.
Leucistic wild animals are rare, and they seldom grow to adulthood because they lack camouflage and stand out to predators. What makes this catch even more amazing is tope sharks are listed as critically endangered, despite widespread distribution throughout Earth’s oceans.
Gillespie released his fish of a lifetime after snapping a few photos.