Researchers from the University of South Alabama have released video taken in mid-April of an 8-foot juvenile Great White shark spotted off the Alabama coast.

Researchers from USA, working alongside others from Mississippi State University and Florida’s Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, were monitoring fish movement near Alabama’s artificial reef zone when they spotted the female shark.

The shark, named “Miss Pawla” by researchers, was still in the same area 10 days later. By last Friday, she was nowhere to be seen.

According to the school, Miss Pawla is about 15 years old. Great Whites don’t reach maturity until they are about 30.

The sighting occurred in about 150 feet of water in the vicinity of the reef and is the first known sighting of a Great White in that area.

Great White sightings are generally uncommon along the Alabama coast, but recent reports — including one caught by fishermen in March 2023 and a dead one washed up on a beach in the Florida Panhandle in February — have researchers reevaluating the species’ presence in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

“We have surveyed over 1,000 artificial and natural reef areas over the last 10 years, providing scientific data to assist the State of Alabama in managing its offshore fisheries,” said Sean Powers, Director of USA’s Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Studies.

“This is our first documented sighting of a white shark.”

White sharks can be identified by their unique scarring pattern, particularly on the head and fins, and are usually named so scientists can track their movements.

This shark has never been recorded before, so she was named after one of USA’s mascots, Miss Pawla.

The school’s other mascot, SouthPaw, already inspired the naming of a 12-foot tiger shark, SouthJaw, and that shark carries a satellite tracker and can be tracked on the Ocearch.org website.