There’s a Giant 1,600 lb Great White Shark Swimming in Florida’s Gulf Coast
THIS. IS. NOT. A. DRILL.
Look. We know there are sharks swimming around the Gulf of Mexico. Now, we know there's a least one REALLY big one!
One of my all-time favorite memories in Florida dates back about twenty years. Kevin and I were on vacation and decided to go to Universal Studios. I had two favorite rides there- King Kong and, of course, Jaws! Remember this?
That "Amity Boat Tours" ride was epic. I remember riding in the front row of the boat with a woman and her small child. The child was terrified and the mother wasn't having it. She kept yelling, "It's just a plastic $@$%# shark!" She was a scream and just could not understand why her daughter couldn't grasp the fact that the sharks were animatronic and not real.
However, THIS shark, the one motoring around the Gulf, is most definitely real. And, like the sharks in the water at Universal Studios, he's a great white and BIG!
Meet Scot! And, no, I am not kidding. He doesn't have a cool name like "Jaws." His name really is Scot (with one "T").
Scot was tagged and named off the coast of Nova Scotia in September of 2021. Look at this fella. He's a massive great white!
Well, get this! Scot, just six months after getting tagged, was pinged off the Gulf Coast of Florida. This literally just happened. In the last half year, this big guy has traveled from Canada, all the way down the eastern seaboard of the United States and back up the Gulf side of Florida. If you're playing the Mapquest home game, that's over 3,000 miles.
Now, here's a really cool added bonus. Thanks to OCEARCH, you can actually track this real-life 1600-lb "Jaws" online by CLICKING HERE. Just last Friday, he was pinged near the shores of what appears to be the Tampa area (that's my estimation from looking at the map).
And here's the wild thing. Scot's not the only great white in the Gulf. Another male named Keji was pinged the same day in just about the same place. Looks like they may be travel companions.
And, while Scot and Keji are swimming up the Florida coastline, a couple of other great whites, albeit smaller ones, are literally across the pond.
On Monday, March, 28th, another male, Laureen (weird name, I know) was pinged near the Texas/Mexico border. And yesterday, Fast Ball was pinged in about the same location.