A great white shark pinging in the Gulf of Mexico began her journey 9,000 miles away
Sable has made a quite a long journey in a year.
The young great white shark, first tagged by OSEARCH Shark Tracker in September 2021 off the coast of Nova Scotia, pinged in the Gulf of Mexico last week for the first time in months.
It’s rare to see great whites in the Gulf’s warm waters, but it has been happening more often in recent years.
Sable pinged south of the Panama City area on Jan. 27, according to OSEARCH. She’s been hanging out near Florida for about a year now. She showed up near the Florida Keys last February and has made her way up to the Pandhandle.
The 807-pound shark has traveled more than 9,100 miles since she was tagged at Sable Island National Park Reserve offshore of Halifax. That’s how she was named, OSEARCH said.
A “ping” occurs when satellite tags affixed to the animal’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water. Tracking data helps researchers demystify life cycles and behavior of the ocean’s greatest predators.
Will Sable travel west toward the Mississippi Gulf Coast? To keep up with the shark’s location, check out the nonprofit’s tracker.
Myrtle Beach Sun News reporter Maya Brown contributed to this report.
