15-foot shark’s sprint to open sea off Carolinas may be sign of pregnancy, experts say
One of the largest great white sharks currently being tracked off the East Coast has perplexed scientists by taking a mysterious sharp turn off North Carolina out into the open Atlantic.
Researchers with OCEARCH noted Tuesday that a 15-foot, 5-inch shark called Unama’ki was heading east off the Carolinas, leading to speculation the atypical maneuver could be linked to pregnancy.
Experts don’t know for sure, since mystery still surrounds where great white sharks give birth along the East Coast.
On April 24, she was 450 miles off Myrtle Beach. By April 28, she had traveled nearly 300 miles more and was nearing Bermuda, 824 miles off Myrtle Beach.
“She is veering off into the open ocean,” OCEARCH tweeted. “Could she be going out there to gestate? We’ve only really tracked large females making these pelagic journeys.”
An April 22 update noted the 2,076-pound shark was still headed east into open sea. On Friday, she appeared to take a sharp turn north, but gave no indication of returning to the coast, tracking showed.
“If @UnamakiShark spends a lot of time out in the open ocean, we’ll have to watch closely where she goes when she returns to the coast. She could help point us to a white shark nursery,” OCEARCH tweeted Friday.
Unama’ki was fitted with a satellite tag in September and has traveled more than 5,300 miles since, including a rare trek that took her deep into the Gulf of Mexico, past the mouth of the Mississippi River.
“White sharks give birth to 2-10, possibly up to 14 shark pups at a time,” OCEARCH tweeted. “The average total length of these babes is 135-151 cm (4.4-5.0 ft).”
OCEARCH is tracking great white sharks along the East Coast to learn where they mate and give birth. Tracking has so far revealed the predators travel regularly up and down the coast and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Among their preferred feeding areas are waters along the edges of the Gulf Stream, including the North Carolina coast, McClatchy News reported last month.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 3:04 PM with the headline "15-foot shark’s sprint to open sea off Carolinas may be sign of pregnancy, experts say."