A colossal great white shark has been documented swimming far up the Gulf of Mexico , unusually close to the shore of northwestern Florida .
The great white , appoint Unama’ki , iscurrently being watchedusing a trailing equipment by OCEARCH , a non - profit nautical conservation group that collects data on peachy white sharks . Their late “ Ping River ” from Unama’ki ’s tracker demo that she was swimming far up the Gulf Of Mexico around 150 kilometer ( 93 mile ) directly in the south of Panama City Beach in northwestern Florida .
" Unama’ki , the bountiful white shark currently pinging on the Tracker , is pinging pretty much as far north as we ever see white sharks go in the Gulf of Mexico , " OCEARCH said onsocial media .
Measuring a immense 4.7 meters ( 15.4 feet ) long and weighing 941 kilograms ( 2,076 pound ) , Unama’ki is the late animal to be tracked . As a mature female , she ’s of particular interest as she could allow some insight into shark breeding and shark nurseries , phenomenon that remain astonishingly unknown to science . Remarkably , people have never keep great white shark breed or give nascence .
Unama’ki was named after the word for Cape Breton in the lyric speak by the indigenous Mi’kmaq people of Nova Scotia . This is where she was first spot by OCEARCH in September 2019 . Since then , she has traveled from Canada down the east slide of the US , around Florida , then up the Gulf of Mexico – an epic 4,410 - klick ( 2,742 - mile ) journey – where she ’s been sinceOctober 2019 .
That might seem pretty farseeing , but great ovalbumin are season travelers . legion research worker have noted schools of individuals severally migrate between Mexico and Hawaii . In other sea basins , such as the Atlantic , soul may migrate even longer distances . They are no unknown to the deep and dark depths of the oceans either , withone sketch documentinggreat white at depths of 1,128 meters ( 3,700 feet ) .
Great blanched sharks(Carcharodon carcharias ) can be found in many seas across the globe , with notable absorption in the US ( northeast seacoast and California ) , South Africa , Japan , Chile , and the Mediterranean .
OCEARCH currently tracks 416 sharks . Most individuals can still be found around North America , although some have headed to South and Central America , while others can be located in places as far - flung as Europe , Africa , or Australia .
Their work has highlighted some incredible stories . In October 2019 , they documented one of their great Caucasian shark , a3.8 - meter ( 12.5 foot ) grownup male cite Vimywithtwo colossus raciness marks on his head .
