Researchers tracking a 10-foot, 800-pound shark off the eastern coast of the United States have announced the massive creature has made its presence known just 15 miles off the coast of Cape Cod by way of a “ping.”
A “ping” happens when a tagged shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and transmits a signal, which is noted down for tracking purposes.
The great white has been swimming north for over a month. Earlier on June 28, OCEARCH researchers posted an update on Twitter featuring a map of the great white’s recent movements in eastern coastal waters.
“Today @MissMay_Shark is pinging close to shore a little north of Kitty Hawk North Carolina. She has been making steady progress north since the beginning of the month.”
That news was met with a hint of trepidation by some commenters, with one saying: “How far off shore? We are in corolla !”
But most people commenting on the OCEARCH post struck a welcoming note.
“Coming up to NJ for the nice hot summer!” wrote one.
“Welcome to North Carolina!!? We are happy to have you!!? Have some Cheerwine or Sweet Tea while you are visiting:)” wrote another commenter.
The shark’s name—Miss May—was inspired by the town of Mayport, Florida, where OCEARCH is planning a research facility.
“Our first white shark of the expedition,” said Expedition Leader Chris Fischer, in a Feb. 24 video posted on Miss May’s own Twitter profile. “A beautiful sub-adult female, and we want to name this shark Miss May, for all the people of Mayport.”
Miss May was tagged in February, with a post on Twitter announcing that the great white was “so excited” to get a “sweet underwater iPhone” so that the shark “can take you all on an adventure through the Atlantic with me.”
In an interview with Reader’s Digest, Fischer stressed the importance of sharks to the world’s oceans, saying, “To put it simply, sharks are balance-keepers: if we lose our sharks, we lose our oceans.”
Drone Catches Sharks Making ‘Aggressive Moves’
CBS News reported on July 9 that drone footage of the waters of Cape Cod Bay showed two sharks acting aggressively toward each other.“They’re always biting each other, we can tell from the patterns of the bites that they’re aggressive toward each other,” said Dr. Greg Skomal, a Massachusetts shark researcher. “But we’ve never seen it before.”
According to the report, shark researchers spent several days looking for sharks in the waters off Cape Cod and found a whopping 20 of them.
“Inside the bay, we’re seeing these sharks, you know, a mile, two miles, three miles from land,” Dr. Skomal told CBS.
Researchers believe the massive number of seals in the area may be attracting the sharks.
Huge Shark Found With Head Bitten Off by Even Bigger Sea Creature
A fisherman in Australia has found the head of a large shark, with bite marks from an unknown—but likely massive—ocean predator.
Jason, who posted the impressive find on Facebook under the alias Trapman Bermagui, wrote that he was shark fishing off the coast of Bermagui when he stumbled across the 200-plus-pound mako shark head.
“So this was all we got back of this monster mako,” he wrote beside a photo of a young man standing behind the severed shark head. “Unfortunately we didn’t see what ate it but must of been impressive!!”
Staged?
Some commenters suggested the photo was staged to make it appear that the shark was bigger than it really was.Facebook user Rodney Wade wrote: “The fact that you can’t see his feet shows how horribly staged this photo is. Shark probably weighed 150lbs.”
Trapman Bermagui posted another photograph of the same shark, this time with a different camera perspective.
While the different perspective makes the shark head seem smaller, the creature in the photo is still evidently large.
A Danger or Endangered?
Sharks in their interactions with humans have acquired a fearsome reputation that, according to National Geographic, is not justified.Data from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a database of all known shark attacks, shows that humans pose a greater threat to sharks than vice versa.
“On average, there are only six fatalities attributable to unprovoked attacks by sharks worldwide, each year. By contrast, fisheries kill about 100 million sharks and rays annually.”