A great white shark has been tracked just 50 miles from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
The shark, named Jekyll, is one of those tagged and tracked by the ocean research organization OCEARCH. The great white ‘pinged’ when he came close to the surface of the water on January 3, around 1 p.m.
Jekyll is a juvenile white shark measuring 8.4 feet and weighing 395 pounds. He was only recently tagged by OCEARCH, in December 2022.
Myrtle Beach is known for its 60-mile stretch of beaches that draw around 20 million visitors each year.
Great white sharks often swim in surface waters close to beaches. This may be more common in the winter, when they are seeking out warmer waters, which tends to be in shallower areas.
But this also means it is more likely they will come into contact with humans who are in the water. Shark bites remain relatively rare and usually occur during the summer months when more people are going to the beach. But conflicts can occur when humans and sharks are in close proximity.
Jekyll belongs to a population of great white sharks that live along the east coast of the U.S. and Canada. The population makes an annual migration, spending summers in northern waters and winters in the south.
Many of OCEARCH’s tagged sharks have recently been making their way down from Canada, traveling south for the winter. The organization has also tagged many other sharks that swim up and down the U.S. East Coast.
Jekyll is not the only shark gathering off the Carolinas recently. Four other great white sharks—Frosty, Cabot, Simon and Ormond—have all pinged while swimming off the coast of South Carolina in recent weeks.
Two particularly large great white sharks known as Mahone and Ironbound were also tracked gathering off North Carolina recently.
Mahone, who measures 14 feet in length and weighs 1,701 pounds, was tracked swimming roughly 42 miles off the coast of North Carolina on December 4.
Ironbound, a great white shark who weighs 1,000 pounds, was also tracked swimming along the North Carolina coast on December 1.
Great white sharks are a solitary species, meaning they do not migrate together or follow each other.
One of OCEARCH’s main aims is to learn more about the species through tagging them and tracking their movements. They are also elusive, and some of their behaviors remain somewhat of a mystery to scientists. However, they do know sharks make this migration in order to follow food sources.
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