800-Pound Great White Shark ‘Pings’ Off Coast of New Jersey

Stock image of a shark. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Researchers tracking a 10-foot, 800-pound shark off the eastern coast of the United States recently announced the massive creature has made its presence known off the coast of New Jersey by way of a “ping.”

The shark—a great white dubbed Miss May—“pinged in” at 2:29 a.m. on July 3, according to an update on the OCEARCH website, an ocean research organization that tracks sharks.

A “ping” happens when a tagged shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and transmits a signal, which is noted for tracking purposes, an OCEARCH representative told Pensacola News Journal.

Map showing the most recent geo-location "ping" emitted by a great white shark named "Miss May" on July 3, 2019. Screengrab via OCEARCH

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.

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“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.”

Huge Shark Found With Head Bitten Off by Even Bigger Sea Creature

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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!!”

“It was a crazy morning of shark fishing. Hoping to catch smaller sharks but just hooked big sharks that got eaten by bigger sharks again.”

Staged?

Some commenters suggested the photo was staged to make it appear that the shark was bigger than it really was.

“That is maybe a 150lb mako at best,” said Sean Sizemore. “This photo Lies. Believe me, i fish all the time and could make a sardine appear to be 100lbs in any pic..lol”

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.

Commenter John Kawenga wrote, “If this was the 80 kilo tiger How big was the Predator that ate this huge beast, and it’s still out there, but we’ll done retrieving the head, should have put the head back as bait as the beast may have still been in the area ????”

In the comments, Wayne Minns posted a photo of what looks to be a hammerhead shark, with the caption “I always thought this was a great example of what swims out there.”

A Danger or Endangered?

Sharks in their interactions with humans have acquired a fearsome reputation that, according to National Geographic, is not justified.

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“The United States averages just 16 shark attacks each year and slightly less than one shark-attack fatality every two years,” writes National Geographic’s Brian Handwerk. “Meanwhile, in the coastal U.S. states alone, lightning strikes and kills more than 41 people each year.”

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.”

A comparison of dog attack fatalities (364) versus shark attack fatalities (11) in the United States for the years 2001-2010 shows that canines pose a considerably higher risk to humans than the much-maligned sharks.