Visitors to the beaches in New York or New Jersey may want to keep a lookout for some fishy companions: The past several weeks have seen four great white sharks swimming near the coast.
Four male great white sharks were recently spotted near New York and New Jersey by OCEARCH, a nonprofit marine research organization that publishes open-source data about shark migration. Researchers can follow each shark's annual migration and movement patterns by attaching electronic trackers to each one.
According to the website of OCEARCH, Simon, a 9-foot-long, 434-pound juvenile great white, was spotted off Fire Island on May 2. According to OCEARCH, he has logged 1,520 miles over the last 105 days.
A second juvenile, Jekyll, who is 8 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 395 pounds, was then spotted on May 15 off the coast of Tall Island. Over the past 102 days, the shark has logged 1,595 kilometers of travel.
Keji, Jekyll And Frosty
Keji, a youngster who pinged on May 17 and weighed about 600 pounds and measured more than 9.5 feet in length, joined Jekyll. According to OCEARCH, Keji has logged 7,697 kilometers during the last 368 days.
An adolescent named Frosty, who weighed 393 pounds and was 9 feet 2 inches long, also ping-ponged off the coast of Rhode Island on May 21.
Annual Migration From Florida To US Northeast And Canada
The four sharks appear to be making their annual migration from the Florida Keys up to the US Northeast and Canada, based on the data collected by OCEARCH.
Prior to moving south again for the winter, OCEARCH previously told CNN that sharks normally spend their summers in the "very rich feeding grounds" of the eastern US and Canada.
Sharks are captured by the research team, who then collect biological samples from them before equipping each one with a tracker. Then, in accordance with the OCEARCH website, the sharks are securely released back into the wild.
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