2 huge great white sharks just spotted along SC coast. See for yourself
A couple of large great white sharks have been cruising through South Carolina waters this week.
Both sharks were pinged along the South Carolina coast on Wednesday, according to research group OCEARCH. One of the sharks, named Jekyll, is an 8-foot, 8-inch-long male that weighs 395 pounds. The other shark is named Kaji and is a larger male that is 9 feet, 7 inches long and weighs 578 pounds.
To view the tracking of Ironbound or other sharks by OCEARCH, click here.
Jekyll was first tagged on Dec. 9, 2022 and is named after Jekyll Island, Georgia, which was near where he was first found.
Keij was first found on Sept. 22, 2021. He was named after the Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, which is located in the region near where he was tagged.
Through the tagging of great whites, OCEARCH has shown the predators make “predictable annual migrations between the northern and southern parts of their range, which stretches from Newfoundland to the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” according to an OCEARCH report. “The sharks spend summer and fall primarily in coastal waters off New England and Atlantic Canada, feeding on high-calorie prey such as seals, before heading back south to warmer winter waters off the southeast U.S. from South Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico.
OCEARCH is a global nonprofit that conducts research to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean. The nonprofit is recognized as a world leader in generating scientific data related to tracking and biological studies of keystone marine species like great white sharks, tiger sharks and others.
OCEARCH will soon embark on its 46th ocean research expedition to further learn about great whites as they migrate to the Southeast and begin their winter residency. The goal will be to study mature sharks to better understand how they use their overwintering area and identify what oceanographic features and diet resources are important to them. The expedition begins on Nov. 27 in Jacksonville, Fla. and will end on Dec. 15 in Morehead City, N.C.
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
