A young Great White Shark was found stranded on a beach in one of the most compelling video clips of a shark rescue ever seen.

Great white sharks are large species of mackerel shark, renowned for their size and historic brutality. Individuals have been measured at more than 20ft in length and weighing over 4,000 pounds. While they normally prefer to feed on fish and mammals including tuna, rays, sea lions, and cetaceans, great white sharks have been associated with many attacks on humans.

These massive animals inhabit coastal and off-shore waters with the highest population densities throughout the United States, South Africa, Japan, Chile, and the Mediterranean. They are extremely macropredatory fish, with their only known natural enemies being killer whales. Great white sharks are also some of the longest lived cartilaginous fish, with an average life span exceeding seventy years of age.

Despite their predatory nature and long lifespan, great white sharks are still considered a vulnerable species by the IUCN.

This particular great white shark was a youngster found struggling for its life on a Cape Cod beach. These brave beach goers performed an astounding rescue, pouring life-saving buckets of water over the shark’s body and eventually dragging it back into the water.

Once the shark reached deeper waters, he swam away relatively unscathed.