CW: This story includes potentially upsetting information about the treatment of animals. 

In 1937, Edgar J. Green was fishing in the Gulf, about six miles west of Longboat Pass, when he made a catch that ensured his name would be found in history books. Using 3,000-lb. test line, a 200-fathom reel, and a flipper from a 30-lb. skate as bait, he hooked and caught a Great White shark—alone.

The animal was towed into Longboat Key, and its measurements and weight were astonishing. It weighed 2,536 lb. and was 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. Its liver alone filled three No. 3 wash tubs, which can hold approximately 17 gallons of liquid apiece. After the liver was cooked—remember, this was the 1930s—the extracted liver oil filled a 50-gallon drum. Before Green's catch, the record was a 15-foot, 1-inch shark caught in Australia; later, in the 1950s, Frank Mundus—the inspiration for Quint, the shark fisherman in Jaws—caught a 3,427-lb., 17-foot Great White that remains one of the largest fish ever caught using a rod and reel.

Today, Great White sharks are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List and are protected under both national and international laws that prohibit fishing and hunting.