It's just a shark. OK, it's a really big shark, possibly the largest ever captured on camera. And since Mauricio Padilla posted his close encounter with the behemoth on Facebook, it's been viewed more than three million times by folks who can't seem to get enough of internet animals.

The shark first appeared in a Discovery Channel documentary in August 2014. Aptly named Deep Blue, the monster fish is believed to be about 50 years old and spans a whopping 20 feet. At the time the video was captured, Deep Blue was heavily pregnant, her body deeply scarred as the result of predator encounters or mating activity. She is a member of the great white family (Carcharodon carcharias), of Jaws fame, which can top out at up to 5,000 pounds.

But Deep Blue is hardly the first animal to become a social media phenom. It seems our appetite for the adorable -- even in the form of sharks -- is insatiable.

For instance, there was the Bronx Zoo Cobra, a cuddly serpent who slithered his way to freedom, kicking off a massive search party and an even more massive Twitter account, with over 200,000 followers in the first week alone.

Or what about Maru the cat, who lives in Japan and possesses the unique talent of sleeping upside down in a sink. This rare glimpse of feline fatigue has resulted in over 139,000 YouTube subscribers, folks who must reside in some barren, cat-free corner of the world.

And it doesn't even have to be a real cat to spark a social media sensation. Nyan Cat is a cartoon kitty, blessed with extraordinary linguistic talents. His solo muttering, "nyan," (whatever the heck that means) has prompted over 120,000 Twitter followers, people obviously enthralled by the arcane gibberish of animated animals.

And finally, there are the JFK Turtles, a couple of lumbering soft-shells that wandered onto a JFK runway, halting traffic and sending the Twitter world buzzing, with over 8,000 followers at last count.

So Deep Blue joins the glut of internet animals who reign supreme within the social media universe. And while animals are amazing creatures who constitute a dizzying array of diversity, those features pale in comparison to a dog in sunglasses or a cat sporting a mustache.