Rare convergence of Great White Sharks seen off the coast of the Carolinas

Great White Shark locations seen off the coast of the south east United States. Credit: Ocearch.

Great White Sharks have begun swarming the coastline of the Carolinas, and their movements are being tracked in real time.

Coming in various sizes and weights, the apex predators have been concentrating themselves into a single area, and OCEARCH’s shark tracker has been monitoring several tagged sharks.

The beacons -often attached to the shark’s fin- will send out a signal if the shark surfaces or gets close enough to the surface to allow the beacon to be picked up.

According to OCEARCH collaborating scientist Dr. Bryan Franks, the is frequented by Great Whites due to lot of prey and colder water during
certain seasons.

“The body of colder water trapped between the Gulf Stream and the coast is a key feature of this region,” said Franks in a statement. “This ‘wedge’ of cold water extends from the Outer Banks in North Carolina down to Cape Canaveral in Florida. This feature results in a range of water temperatures in a relatively short horizontal distance from the coast out to the Gulf Stream. In addition, there is the potential for abundant prey in the migrating populations along the coastlines and in the dynamic mixing zone on the Stream edge.”

OCEARCH has been studying Great Whites and other sharks for some time, with several of their sharks becoming celebrities of sorts with animal lovers around the world, who frequently check in to track the locations of their favorite tagged sharks.

Several sharks have been spotted in the cluster, with the average size being 9 to 12 feet long.

Jefferson, a massive mature Great White, pinged as recently as yesterday and weights a whopping 1,336 lbs. He was first tagged off the coast of Nova Scotia in 2018.

A little further east from Jefferson is Katharine, a well-known Great White that weighs over 2,300 lbs and is over fourteen feet long. To add to her already impressive statistics, Katharine hasn’t even fully matured yet and has swam 36,851 miles in the past 103 days. Ranging from the North Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, this girl gets around.

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