Florida’s scariest snowbird: a 2,000 lb great white shark
JAMM AQUINO / OCT. 30, 2018
A great white shark is silhouetted while swimming off Mexico’s Guadalupe Island in 2018.
KEY LARGO, Fla. >> Florida got a visit from its scariest snowbird just in time for its winter tourist season — a 2,000-pound, 15-foot great white shark.
A research group has been tracking the female shark since 2019 off Nova Scotia, Canada. Scientists said the tracker pinged off Vero Beach, Florida, the Bahamas and Key Largo in the Florida Keys in recent days. In August, she was still enjoying the cool waters off Nova Scotia, according to the nonprofit Ocearch.
The shark appeared to be making a similar journey as two other large female great whites and might be pregnant. Scientists hope she could lead them to her birthing place, according to a Facebook post Ocearch which has been tracking the shark.
She is named Unama’ki, which means “Land of the fog” in Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Nova Scotia.
The Tampa Bay Times reports Unama’ki is one of the largest sharks Ocearch has tagged in the North Atlantic. The largest was a 16-foot female tagged in 2012.
