A massive great white shark has been recorded swimming near the Jersey Shore.
The shark, which was named “Ironbound” after an island near Nova Scotia where it was first spotted, is 12 feet, four inches long and weighs 998 pounds.
OCEARCH researchers reported that the male shark was swimming just off the New Jersey coast on April 28th before heading south near the coast of North Carolina, where he pinged on Monday.
Researchers say Ironbound has travelled more than 13,400 miles since they began tracking him 2019.
"He's gone back and forth from where we found him in Nova Scotia and the Florida Keys several times,", OCEARCH’s chief scientist Bob Hueter told CNN.
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Wildlife experts say great white sharks, which can grow to be more than 18 feet in length, are not uncommon in the region around this time of year.
“Juveniles utilize Long Island's coastal ocean as nursery habitat throughout the warm season,” said the New York State Department of Environment Conservation.
Despite his venture back to the North Carolina area, researchers say he will likely soon be headed back north.
Sharks tend to migrate north and move to closer shorelines as waters begin to warm after winter months.
“Ironbound will likely spend most of his summer and early fall in those northern waters around Nova Scotia before turning around and returning to Florida,” Hueter said.
Credit: OCEARCH
NYS wildlife experts say adult great whites can be dangerous to humans due to their size, power, and feeding behavior.
There have been 471 shark attacks by various species in the U.S. since 2012. Eight of them were fatal, according to shark experts from the Florida Museum of Natural History and International Shark Attack Files. Researchers also recorded 73 unprovoked incidents in 2021, compared to 52 bites in 2020, according to a report released earlier this year.
