Great white sharks are starting to move into the Gulf of Mexico from Atlantic waters as part of their seasonal movements.
On January 3 at 7:35 p.m., the great white shark “Crystal” was tracked near the West Florida Escarpment, far off the coast of Sarasota, Florida. Crystal is a 10-foot-long female weighing 460 pounds at the time of tagging, according to OCEARCH.
Another great white shark, “Keji,” was also detected in the Gulf of Mexico near the West Florida Escarpment. Keji measures 9 feet, 7 inches and weighed 578 pounds at tagging. His last recorded location was off Cape Coral on January 4 at 7:54 a.m., as reported by OCEARCH.
A report over at News Channel 8 has a few more details on the sharks.
Typically these smaller (by great white standards) sharks start moving into the Gulf in winter and by late spring move back up as far north as Canada.
But last year “LeeBeth” the 14 foot, 2,600-pound great white that showed up in Texas shook things up. She definitely isn’t on the small side.
And some white sharks undoubtedly stay in the Gulf year-round. But the main order seems to be younger sharks moving into Gulf waters in winter and then back to the Atlantic for summer.
We do our best to keep up with all pings from both Ocearch and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
And we have created our own database of anecdotal great white shark sightings in the Gulf of Mexico.
Check it out here and if you’ve had a sighting please send us the info.
And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get the most comprehensive info on great whites and other sharks in the Gulf.
Chester Moore
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