13-foot, 1,400-pound great white shark pings off coast after summer in Florida
(Daniel Botelho / Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media / Getty Images)
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - A massive great white shark who spent the last two months off the coast of Florida seems to headed on a journey north.
OCEARCH pinged the male white shark, named Breton, about 60 miles offshore near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina earlier this month. Breton, who is 13.3-feet long and weighs 1,437 pounds, was tagged on Sept. 12, 2020 and OCEARCH has been tracking his whereabouts ever since.
"Breton is somewhat of an anomaly," the organization said on Facebook. "While the rest of our actively pinging white sharks are off the Northeast United States or Atlantic Canada, Breton remains in the warm waters off the Southeast US. This is the latest we’ve seen one of our white sharks stay this far south in the Western North Atlantic."
According to OCEARCH, great whites typically start their migration north from mid-May to June. However, Breton stuck around the waters off the coast of Florida throughout June and July, according to data collected by researchers.
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"How Breton is dealing with the warm water temperatures or if he’s finally started his migratory trip north towards Atlantic Canada are some of the questions our science team is currently asking. We will be watching Breton’s movements closely over the next few weeks."
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Breton is the first shark tagged during OCEARCH's Expedition Nova Scotia 2020 and is named for the people of Cape Breton where he was tagged.
According to its Facebook page, OCEARCH is a "non-profit organization and a recognized world leader in generating critical scientific data related to tracking and biological studies of large apex predators such as great white sharks and other keystone marine species."