Gigantic Great White Stalks Florida Coast Ahead of Spring Break
A gigantic great white shark was spotted off the coast of Florida, ahead of this season’s busy spring break.
The gigantic great white shark Maple pinged on Monday morning, March 6 ,2023 southeast of St. George Island, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker measured the shark at 11 feet, 7 inches long and weighs 1,264 pounds.
OCEARCH said “Over the past two seasons Maple has spent much of her winter in the Gulf of Mexico.”
A distinctive wound on the left side of Maple’s body, believed to be from an interaction with another larger white shark. This enormous great white female was named after the maple leaf, one of Canada’s national emblems.
“It is not uncommon for sharks to show their dominance over a smaller animal of their species by delivering a significant but non-fatal bite.”
Tancook, a great white shark measuring 9 feet, 9 inches long and weighing around 715 pounds, pinged several miles east of Amelia Island on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
In 2021, the OCEARCH team tagged Tancook, which means “facing the open sea”, off West Ironbound Island, just south of Tancook Island
“We’re looking forward to Tancook teaching us more about the open sea as we follow along with his movements!” OCEARCH said.
OCEARCH is a global non-profit organization that conducts unprecedented research on our ocean’s giants to help scientists collect previously unattainable ocean data.
Since 2007 OCEARCH has conducted 44 expeditions, tagged 447 animals, it works with 200 scientists and has one big boat
“Our mission is to accelerate the ocean’s return to balance and abundance through fearless innovations in critical scientific research, education, outreach, and policy using unique collaborations of individuals and organizations in the U.S. and abroad.”
OCEARCH tagged its first mature male white shark in its 28th expedition back in 2017 in Lowcontry- Georgea, South Carolina and North Carolina.
OCEARCH also has a live map on their website that contains live information on where sharks are spotted. Definatly a good way to check out how your next beach trip in doing on sharks. Never hurts to be extra safe.
