10-foot great white shark pinged off Florida Coast near Brevard County

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Published  December 13, 2024 10:44pm EST
FOX 35 Orlando
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10-foot great white shark pinged off Florida coast

An OCEARCH tracker pinged a 10-foot, 522-pound great white shark this week off the Florida coast. The data shows the shark near the Brevard County area as recently as 11 a.m. Friday morning.

The Brief

    • A 10-foot great white shark was pinged this week off the coast of Florida, OCEARCH data shows.
    • OCEARCH has named the 522-pound shark "Penny."
    • Penny last was pinged by OCEARCH Friday morning near the Brevard County area.

ORLANDO, Fla. - An OCEARCH tracker pinged a 10-foot, 522-pound great white shark this week off the Florida coast.

The data shows the shark near the Brevard County area as recently as 11 a.m. Friday morning.

The shark, who has been named Penny, was first pinged Dec. 23, 2023, off the coast of Boynton Beach, Florida. She then traveled further southwest into the Florida Keys before heading into the Gulf of Mexico.

GANSBAAI, SOUTH AFRICA - OCTOBER 19:  A Great White Shark is attracted by a lure on the Shark Lady Adventure Tour on October 19, 2009 in Gansbaai, South Africa. The lure, usually a tuna head, is attached to a buoy and thrown into the water in front o …

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Penny was pinged again southeast in the Florida Keys area before circling up to waters off Sanibel Island. 

The data shows Penny was last pinged in the Florida Keys area on March 23 before next being picked up on April 17 on the northeastern Florida coast. She appears to have traveled as far north as New Brunswick, Canada, before again heading south towards Florida. 

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Dr. Toby Daly-Engel, the director of the shark conservation lab at Florida Institute of Technology, said sharks typically swim south for the winter.

"When the prey fish seek out the warmer water in the wintertime when the water up north gets cold, the sharks will follow," Daly-Engel said.

Daly-Engel said the pings allow researchers to track how animals adapt to climate change.

"Just like birds, they're relying on their temperature cues to say, 'Ope, it's time to get back up north. Pack up your stuff, we're going back,'" Daly-Engel said. "If those temperature cues start coming earlier in the year, they're going to start moving earlier."

Penny is OCEARCH's 92nd great white shark tagged in western North America. 

OCEARCH named Penny after residents of the Salty Penny Canvas in North Carolina, who helped the organization with custom marine canvas projects that provide a comfortable experience on the water and allow them to operate in tougher conditions. 

Penny and other great white sharks, as well as loggerhead sea turtles, can be tracked using OCEARCH's tracking tool here. 

The Source: The information in this article comes from OCEARCH and was shared with FOX 35 News.

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