A shocking shot from a shark cage shows the great white mowing down a school of hapless fish, while another shocking capture shows it chewing on a rope attached to the catch – with its powerful jaws close by. The photos also show the shark moving towards the cage with its jaws stretched wide open. There are around 3,500 of the fearsome raptors left in the wild, with hunters targeting their teeth, meat and fins to make soup. They weigh 2.5 tonnes or more – the approximate weight of a car – and can be almost the size of a single-decker bus. And among the carnivore community, Great Whites are the ones most reasonable to fear. Between a third and a half of shark attacks each year are committed by them. The stunning images were taken by Ron Daniel, 55, of San Diego, California with his Nikon D7200. Ron captured the images on Isla Guadalupe off the coast of Baja California, Mexico on an Ikelight underwater camera housing. The excitement of this close encounter is not lost on Ron. He said: “It was new to the area – and hadn’t yet been named by the Institute of Marine Conservation Sciences. “Like many others in the animal kingdom, the alpha female is the largest shark in the area. But this girl was having none of that.” The female Great White defied the strict social hierarchy of her underwater species, according to the cage diver who saw her. Ron said, “She would run around and cause all kinds of chaos, seemingly oblivious to her place in the hierarchy.” A school of fish were urgently swimming around the Great White, who would mistake them for a light snack. Great white sharks eat about 3% of their body weight each time they hunt. This means that a 2.5 ton fish would eat 182 pounds (83 kg) each catch Ron added ominously about the magnificent creature that raced around the waters off the coast of Baja California, Mexico: “It gave us a lot of close ups – sometimes too close for comfort.” The voracious but graceful animal was depicted devouring a legion of small fish in its wake without mercy, as is customary among Great Whites. Ron said: “She was young and boisterous and didn’t respect the standard shark pecking yet.” Natural light bounces off the shark’s nose a few feet away from the underwater cage where Ron and his accompanying guides sit. They placed weights on their legs to stay at the base of the cage so they could stay completely still This terrifying angle shows just how close the Great White came to the insignificant metal structure from which Ron and his friends were watching. He commented: “Over the course of three days, we ended up getting to know this particular shark very well.” The shark punched around the water, images show, and tore off a rope attached to a buoy off the coast of Mexico. Great white sharks can be up to 20 feet long, almost as long as a double-decker bus. Their weight reaches 2.5 tons Seen in all its glory and seemingly at night, the shark’s mouth is tightly closed and does not appear to be looking for food. Incredibly, all of Ron’s remarkable images were taken on just the first dive on the first of three days underwater Sharks are regularly hunted for their teeth, meat and fins – which produce a soup popular in East Asia. There are estimated to be only 3,500 Great Whites left in the wild, with the species considered endangered. In most countries, hunting them is illegal This image appears to show the shark chasing what it thinks is food by tapping the surface of the water with its nose. Ron said: “I was making sure my friend’s mother was doing well, breathing comfortably and had the right weights to keep her feet on the floor of the cage. When suddenly, her eyes got huge and she frantically pointed behind me. What they had seen and I hadn’t seen was a great white that leapt out of the water.’ Photographer Ron Daniel, 55, is an e-commerce creative director. He spent three days taking the incredible photos with his Nikon D7200, a DSLR camera that costs hundreds of pounds. Optimizing it for underwater conditions is another task “People who thought they were going to be afraid say how they only felt peace. I have never seen anyone who had a negative reaction to the experience. It’s always overwhelmingly positive,” said Ron. The ocean above the shark’s head appears to tremble as the predatory fish hits the surface. Weighing around 2.5 tonnes each, their presence in the water would certainly be felt as soon as they drop from above the water – or emerge from deep below Ron said: “99.9% of the time, these huge creatures are very cold. They swim quietly, moving gracefully and beautifully.’ The inside of a shark’s mouth is frighteningly simple for all to see. Great Whites have about 300 serrated, triangular teeth The talented part-time photographer said of his stunning array of images: “I’ve seen people cry when they see their first Great White. Others emerge from the water speechless, unable to articulate what this interaction meant to them.’ An impressive, blurry close-up was taken by Ron as he readied his camera for the dive. He said: “I spun around and shot five frames as the shark fell back, not knowing if my camera was even set up correctly.” Ron said he needs to focus on keeping tourists safe while taking the best photos he can. He said: “As one of the ‘seasoned veterans’ now, I help newbies get into the cage and make sure they feel confident and safe in the underwater environment before focusing on my photography. Ron said of the blurry image, which had to be shot incredibly fast: “The shutter speed was a lot slower than I would have chosen, but that unintentional blur gives you a sense of how quickly things can happen down there.”
