An 11-foot long, 1,200 pound shark is being monitored off the Florida coast as thousands of young Americans head to the state’s coastlines for spring break.
The shark, named Maple, is being tracked by Ocearch thanks to a tag installed in 2021.
The great white was spotted about 43 miles off the coast of St George’s island on Monday.
Maple has been in the Gulf of Mexico for a few weeks but last year traveled up and down the East Coast, after first being tagged in Canada in 2021, Ocearch tracking data shows.
The organisation first tagged Maple two years ago, and has continued to monitor her along with dozens of other sharks they have tagged.
She was named after the maple leaf, the emblem on Canada’s flag.
The shark has a distinctive wound on her left side, and researchers believe it was caused by a larger white shark that was trying to show its dominance with a non-fatal bite.
According to its website, Ocearch is an international non-profit that conducts “research on our ocean’s giants in order to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean.”
