Uncharted Waters
Great White Shark Spotted off Florida’s Coast
On Feb. 2, a 1600-pound, 1300-ft great white shark surfaced on the southeast coast of Jacksonville Beach. This is the largest male shark tagged by OCEARCH, a non-profit organization that collects data to allow scientists to study and track activities in the ocean. On Jan. 17, OCEARCH initially marked this great white shark with a satellite tag on its dorsal fin and located it off of the Florida-Georgia Coast. Since then, the data on the tracker has been pinging the shark’s location to the OCEARCH scientists.
Nicknamed “Contender” by the OCEARCH scientists, this shark traveled to the coast of Savannah, Ga. before heading back south. It is not uncommon for great white sharks to enter Florida waters. In the warm weather of the spring and summer, great white sharks can be found in North Atlantic waters, off of Canada and Rhode Island. When the water gets cooler and food sources dwindle in the fall and winter, the great whites migrate south to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. In these warmer waters, it is easier for them to find an abundance of food.
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