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Photo courtesy of Chris Ross via OCEARCH Rose, the great white pictured above, has been tracked hanging out near Fort Myers for the past month.
Reports of great white sharks off Amelia Island’s coast come just in time for spring break.
OCEARCH — an organization based out of Jacksonville University that provides near real-time tracking of sharks, sea turtles and other marine life — reported two great whites near Amelia Island in the past week.
Hali is a female great white measuring just over 10 feet long and weighing an estimated 697 pounds. She was tagged Sept. 12, 2021, off the coast of Ironbound Island, Nova Scotia. The tags used by OCEARCH send a ping every time the shark or other animal breaks the surface of the water. Hali’s tag pinged twice March 15, once near Jacksonville Beach and then later closer to Amelia Island.
OCEARCH said Hali was named for the people of Halifax, Nova Scotia, “who have been so wonderful to us every time we visit this region. Their commitment to science with an ocean first disposition has made this area a true joy to work in.”
Last week, on March 7, 715-pound male great white Tancook pinged further out, but still near the island. Tancook was also tagged in September 2021 on the same trip to Nova Scotia. When he was tagged, he measured almost 10 feet long.
Tancook gets his name from the language of the indigenous Mi’kmaq people of Nova Scotia. According to OCEARCH staff, his name means “facing the open sea.” He was tagged near Ironbound Island, same as Hali, just south of Tancook Island.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports nursery areas for great whites in the waters near shore of southern California and Long Island, N.Y. As they grow older, they move further away from those nurseries toward seal and sea lion habitats.
NOAA says that white sharks typically migrate to follow subtropical and temperate waters temping from 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. National Geographic says great whites are the largest predatory fish in the world, growing up to 20 feet long and weighing more than 4,000 pounds. Hali and Tancook were both juveniles when they were tagged, so they still have growing to do.
These sharks can have up to 300 serrated teeth in rows in their mouth, a strong sense of smell, organs to sense the electromagnetic fields of other animals and powerful tails to send them through the water at up to 15 miles per hour.
According to National Geographic, most great white attacks on humans are not fatal. Scientists say they believe a single bite to satisfy the great white’s curiosity is enough to deter it from further attacking a person. Surfers and swimmers can sometimes be mistaken for seals when great whites see them from below, but again, a single bite is usually enough to deter them.
Neither of the sharks that pinged near the island were close enough to shore to attack casual swimmers or surfers.
hdorman@fbnewsleader.com
