We DO have great white sharks in Florida. They migrate to warmer climates during winter. They move south to the coast of the Carolinas and Florida. Their long swim to the waters of South Florida begins as far north as Canada. Many call Florida (like our snowbirds) their winter home. All the way through spring, divers and fishermen report sightings.
In December, 2019, six great white sharks were spotted swimming off Florida’s coast. OCEARCH, an agency that collects ocean data, located tagged great whites making their migration. Three were off the coast of Jacksonville, where the water temps range from 65-67 degrees, ideal for these huge creatures. The six identified shark’s names are Nova, Sydney, Cabot, Ironbound, Unama’ki, and Hudson. They were all captured at an earlier date, and released with trackers so OCEARCH can see where they are.
Eleven-foot long Nova weighs 1,186 pounds and was tracked for over a week swimming between Jacksonville, Florida and Daytona Beach.
According to the GPS tag pinging, on February 5, 2020, Unama’ki, a 2,076 pound and at least 15-feet, 5-inch long female great white shark, was located in the Gulf of Mexico. She is a real monster! She has made the long swim, 2700 miles from Nova Scotia all the way around the Florida peninsula to just 100 miles south of Panama City Beach on the Florida panhandle.
According to the OCEARCH founder, Chris Fischer, there are likely thousands more great whites off the Florida coast that don’t have trackers.
FYI
There is also our frequent Florida snowbird, Katharine, another large female great white shark. You can follow her on twitter. https://twitter.com/shark_katharine?lang=en
Keep up with OCEARCH on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/OCEARCH/
You can also get this OCEARCH shark tracker app in the app store.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ocearch-shark-tracker/id570772231
Some interesting videos and info of Oraca vs. Great White Shark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5lfumieBEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLGi76Dz7yc
