15-foot shark from North Atlantic pops up along Florida Panhandle, surprising experts

One of the largest great white sharks being tracked by researchers in the North Atlantic has popped up in the Gulf of Mexico, off Florida spring break hot spots Destin and Panama City.

That is unusual, researchers say.

“We don’t usually get white shark pings this far northeast in the Gulf of Mexico,” OCEARCH posted on Facebook.

The shark’s name is Unama’ki, and she’s 15 feet, 5 inches long, and weighs nearly 2,100 pounds. She is being tracked by OCEARCH via a satellite tag attached in September, when she was captured off Nova Scotia.

Unama’ki has traveled 2,742 miles in the 103 days since then, OCEARCH says.

The nonprofit research group didn’t offer guesses on why she has strayed that far north, though commenters on Facebook shared ideas, including the possibility earthquakes in Puerto Rico rattled the her behavior.

It’s believed she’s seeking out warmer water during the winter months, experts say.

Unama’ki had vanished from radar for more than a month when she suddenly showed up off Florida’s southwest coast on Jan. 14, OCEARCH said on Facebook. She has continued north since then.

The group believes great white sharks follow the continental shelf as they migrate south from the North Atlantic to southern Florida.

Among the things still to learn is whether shark behavior changes when they reach the gulf, OCEARCH said.

“We know that mature white sharks travel to the Gulf of Mexico in winter and spring months,” the group posted. “This is valuable data that brings us closer to solving the North Atlantic white shark puzzle.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 1:42 PM with the headline "15-foot shark from North Atlantic pops up along Florida Panhandle, surprising experts."