Great White Sharks are Making Their Way to Florida Shores
It turns out vacationers aren’t the only ones flocking to the beaches of Florida this year. With New Smyrna Beach being the shark bite capital of the world, it’s no surprise there are a lot of sharks along the east coast of Florida, but is the great white shark in Florida? On November 2nd, 2023 OCEARCH spotted a 10 foot, 460 pound Great White Shark in Florida swimming along the shores of Daytona Beach.
But why are the great white sharks making their move to Florida? Dr. Bob Hueter, OCEARCH Senior Advisor for Science & Academics, said, “It’s kind of like winter snowbirds, the sharks start heading south in the fall as the temperatures drop up north…the most prominent is the one we work on on OCEARCH the white shark otherwise known as the great white shark.”
The migration starts around the middle of October and runs through the end of November into early December. Dr. Hueter explains that these sharks are usually off the southeast coast, east coast of Florida and some of them go down into the keys into the Gulf of Mexico.
What is OCEARCH?
OCEARCH is a non profit organization dedicated to studying these oceanic beasts. They state that their mission “is to accelerate the ocean’s return to balance and abundance through fearless innovations in critical scientific research, education, outreach, and policy using unique collaborations of individuals and organizations in the US and abroad.”
Dr. Hueter went on to explain that the sharks will stay between one mile and 100 miles off the coast and during this time, OCEARCH studies these sharks. On November 27th, the OCEARCH expedition takes off from the coast of Jacksonville. On this voyage, the scientists will be tagging them so they can track their movement and activity.
What does the data tell us?
While the team is on their expedition, they will be collecting important data such as the diet of these animals and their genetics. The sharks also provide information that can lead to potentially important information for the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Hueter says that some of the work done by the microbiologist is showing the bacterial samples from these sharks may be helpful to produce antibiotics. The efforts made by this team could lead to the creation of drugs that will fight human diseases. To follow the great white sharks as they migrate, click here for the tracking map on OCEARCH.
The 5 Most Dangerous Animals In Florida
Great White Shark
Yes, Great White Sharks are found in the waters around Florida. A almost 1,200 pound shark that was almost 13 feet in length was tracked back in March of this year.
Bull Shark
#1 and #2 on the list are sharks. They are in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. They grow to about 11 feet and can live about 24 years.
Alligator
Alligators live in all 67 counties in Florida. You can find alligators in any body of water including lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, swamps and man-made canals. We’ve seen multiple reports this year of gator attacks, even some fatal ones.
Eastern Dimondback Rattlesnake
They are found in pine flatwoods, longleaf pine and turkey oak hammocks, sand pine scrub areas, and coastal barrier islands. Yes it is venomous.
Cottonmouth Snake
It is venomous and can be found throughout Florida. It is called a cottonmouth because of the white color of the inside of its mouth.
