2 male great white sharks have traveled thousands of miles together and no one knows why

Although usually solitary animals, two juvenile great whites, nicknamed Simon and Jekyll, have been tracked traveling more than 4,000 miles together along the U.S. east coast.

Two great white sharks.

Two great white sharks seem to be following each other all the way from the southeast U.S. to Canada. Great white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias ) are usually solitary animals and travel vast distances alone. So the pair's 4,000-mile (6,400 kilometers) swim together has left scientists puzzled. 

"White sharks lead a very solitary existence," Robert Hueter , a shark scientist at the nonprofit organization OCEARCH that tagged the pair, said in a video posted to Facebook. "We don't really expect to see these white sharks staying together."

The juvenile great whites — nicknamed Simon and Jekyll — were tagged with tracking devices by researchers off the coast of Georgia in December. And over the months that followed, they've stayed close to one another on their way north.

OCEARCH tags sharks with sensors that ping their location when the sharks spend time near the surface of the water. Researchers can use this data to follow individual sharks across the ocean.

Related: Great white sharks are washing up on Canadian beaches but experts claim this could be a good thing

The data show that Simon and Jekyll have been generally following the same path along the coast — though they haven't always been in the exact same place at the same time. In early March, for example, both sharks were pinged off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. But by early May, Simon appeared to have reached Long Island, New York, while Jekyll was around southern New Jersey.

Yet by early July, both sharks were again pinged in the same location off the coast of Nova Scotia, and by the middle of the month they were both in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the outlet of the Great Lakes. Jekyll hasn't pinged since mid-July, but Simon pinged as recently as Aug. 11, off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada.

— Great white sharks have almost no interest in eating humans, study confirms

— Cape Cod is one of the world's largest hotspots of great white sharks, study finds

— Secret great white shark social club discovered off Mexican coast

Hueter said in the video that he's "never seen anything quite like this" and noted that scientists have taken tissue samples from both sharks and will check to see if they might be related.

Scientists still don't fully understand sharks' social behavior, Hueter told the Washington Post . But researchers are now looking into how these marine predators interact with each other.

Last year, for example, researchers found that individual white sharks might sometimes stay close to other white sharks to help find food . "Our new evidence suggests that white sharks are indeed social animals,” one of those researchers wrote in an article for The Conversation.

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

Ethan Freedman

Ethan Freedman is a science and nature journalist based in New York City, reporting on climate, ecology, the future and the built environment. He went to Tufts University, where he majored in biology and environmental studies, and has a master's degree in science journalism from New York University.

Elusive megamouth shark caught off Zanzibar for 1st time, gets sold for $17

Great white shark gets liver torn out by lone orca in under 2 minutes in shocking shift of hunting methods

We're finally close to a universal antivenom that works against cobra, krait and black mamba snake bites, say researchers

admin said: Although usually solitary animals, two juvenile great whites, nicknamed Simon and Jekyll, have been tracked traveling more than 4,000 miles together along the U.S. east coast. 2 male great white sharks have traveled thousands of miles together and no one knows why : Read more
  • View All 1 Comment

Most Popular

By Harry Baker March 08, 2024

By Emily Cooke March 08, 2024

By Quentin Septer March 08, 2024

By Keumars Afifi-Sabet March 08, 2024

By Patrick Pester March 08, 2024

By Laura Geggel March 07, 2024

By Owen Jarus March 07, 2024

By Emily Cooke March 07, 2024

By Sascha Pare March 07, 2024

By Keith Cooper March 07, 2024

  • 2 Shoebill: The human-sized African bird that eats baby crocodiles and kills its siblings
  • 3 PFAS 'forever chemicals' to officially be removed from food packaging, FDA says
  • 4 'Should not really exist in these waters': Scientists spot gray whale, thought to be extinct in the Atlantic, off Massachusetts coast
  • 5 32 U.S. cities, including New York and San Francisco, are sinking into the ocean and face major flood risks by 2050, new study reveals
  • 2 1,100-year-old Viking sword pulled from UK river by magnet fisher
  • 3 Ancient humans used cave in Spain as burial spot for 4 millennia, 7,000 bones reveal
  • 4 James Webb telescope detects oldest 'dead' galaxy in the known universe — and its death could challenge cosmology
  • 5 'They are very well aware of their agency': Elephant calf burial ritual discovered in India

Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks seen traveling the Atlantic in tandem shock researchers

Chief scientist says the development is 'potentially groundbreaking,' as the apex predators have long been thought to be solitary..

2 great white sharks travel together

Traveling long distances without a companion can get lonely − and apparently that goes even for solitary creatures like great white sharks.

Scientists at the nonprofit research organization OCEARCH were surprised when they discovered two sharks they had tagged with satellite trackers in December have since traveled side by side for thousands of miles.

The discovery sheds new light on everything scientists thought they knew about the apex predators, once believed to prefer only their own company, according to Bob Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH.

"This is potentially groundbreaking," Hueter said in a video posted Sunday on the Facebook page of the Museum of Science in Boston. "We've never seen anything quite like this before."

'Something profoundly wrong': Marine biologists puzzled by large beaching of pilot whales

'They seem to be buddies'

Researchers at OCEARCH first tagged the sharks, named Simon and Jekyll for the Georgia islands where they were found, in December on the southeastern coast of the United States. Since then, satellite data has shown the predators moving in tandem along the Atlantic coast for more than 4,000 miles, Hueter said.

Simon , a 9-footer weighing 434 pounds, and 8-foot-long Jekyll , who weighs 395 pounds, eventually reached Canadian waters and have most recently been tracked to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Before the OCEARCH team tagged the sharks, Hueter said, they took samples of blood, tissue and muscle. A geneticist will analyze the samples to determine whether Simon and Jekyll are brothers or otherwise related, he said.

'My office is the Everglades': Florida woman gave up real estate job to hunt Burmese pythons

OCEARCH has tagged more than 400 animals since its first expedition in 2007. And while its research has yielded more than 75 published studies , team members never thought they'd discover that yes, sharks can be friendly.

"Simon and Jekyll," Hueter said. "They seem to be buddies."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].

Great white sharks usually travel solo. A duo is baffling experts.

2 great white sharks travel together

After scientists placed tracking devices on two great white sharks off the Georgia coast in December, they started to notice unusual behavior.

The sharks traveled along similar paths up the Atlantic Coast, reaching the southern coast of Canadian province Nova Scotia on the same day last month. Scientists think their migration might be groundbreaking.

Great white sharks, also known as white sharks, are typically solitary and fierce predators at the top of the ocean’s food chain, said Robert Hueter, the chief scientist at OCEARCH, a Utah nonprofit that studies marine life. But Hueter, who has studied sharks since the 1970s, said he had never seen white sharks travel similar routes at the same time for months.

The male sharks near Canada, whom scientists named Jekyll and Simon, swam about 4,000 miles and were last tracked together in July off Quebec’s eastern coast.

Hueter, 71, doesn’t know why the sharks are traveling together, but he said he’s awaiting blood sample results to determine if Jekyll and Simon are related.

White sharks “were already more complex than we used to think they were,” Hueter told The Washington Post. “Now this adds a whole new element of sort of a familial and social component to migration.”

OCEARCH, based in Park City, Utah, began tracking sharks in the Atlantic Ocean in 2012. Scientists catch white sharks and collect their blood, mucus, feces and urine samples. They measure their bodies and eyes and give ultrasound exams to female adults. Then they place three tracking devices on the sharks: in their abdomen and on their skin and dorsal fin. Within 20 minutes, scientists are able to release the sharks back into the ocean.

By monitoring white sharks, the scientists hope to learn where they live, breed, eat and migrate to identify areas where the vulnerable species needs protection.

To date, OCEARCH has tracked 92 white sharks, including Simon and Jekyll. Simon, who’s 9½ feet long and 434 pounds, was caught near St. Simons Island, Ga., on Dec. 4. Jekyll was caught five days later near Jekyll Island, Ga., and was measured to be 8-foot-8 and 395 pounds. Hueter said the two sharks are between 10 and 15 years old.

In April, Jekyll and Simon began swimming up the Atlantic Coast, passing Ocracoke, N.C., Virginia Beach and Atlantic City at similar times. While none of the other tracked white sharks have moved in pairs, Hueter said Jekyll and Simon have stayed between 10 and 100 miles of each other.

Sharks sometimes spend time in the same areas to mate and eat, Hueter said, but they typically migrate alone — to the north in the summer and to the south in the winter. Other animals, including birds , salmon and caribou , migrate in groups.

“Social behavior in sharks is something that’s not particularly well-known,” Hueter said. “And it’s not thought to be something that they have much of, except in maybe isolated cases of certain species.”

On July 4, Hueter raised new questions about sharks’ migration patterns when he saw Jekyll and Simon arrive near Nova Scotia’s southern coast. He wondered whether their shared sex or their similar physical dimensions drove them to travel similar paths. He’s also curious if they’re siblings. If Jekyll and Simon are related, that might show that sharks are closer to their families than previously thought, Hueter said.

Both sharks have since journeyed past Halifax — Nova Scotia’s capital — and around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Jekyll’s tracking device last reported him on Quebec’s eastern coast — near Chandler — on July 18. Simon was in that area on the same date.

Simon’s sensor last pinged on Aug. 11 on the northeastern coast of the New Brunswick province. When Jekyll’s tracking device pings again, Hueter looks forward to seeing if he joined Simon there.

2 great white sharks travel together

Read the Latest on Page Six

latest in US News

Freed Hamas hostage Mia Schem attends Elton John's Oscars party in stunning gown

Freed Hamas hostage Mia Schem attends Elton John's Oscars party...

Adult film star Sophia Leone shared heartbreaking, final message before possible 'home invasion homicide'

Adult film star shared heartbreaking, final message before...

Teen girl has head repeatedly bashed into concrete in gruesome, caught-on-camera brawl

Teen girl has head repeatedly bashed into concrete in gruesome,...

New York lawyer fights 'First Amendment retaliation' for cursing out police officer in free speech saga

New York lawyer fights 'First Amendment retaliation' for cursing...

Social media users upset as Shetland pony is stuck in cattle grid for 4 hours with crews toiling

Social media users upset as Shetland pony is stuck in cattle grid...

Neighbors rescue New Jersey couple trapped in major house fire: 'We're here, we're here'

Neighbors rescue New Jersey couple trapped in major house fire

Trucker shootout on Florida highway caught on video

Trucker shootout on Florida highway caught on video

Anti-Israel demonstration causes chaos outside Oscars, slightly delays broadcast

Anti-Israel demonstration causes chaos outside Oscars, slightly...

Unusual companionship between pair of great white sharks baffles experts: ‘seem to be buddies’.

  • View Author Archive
  • Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

They’re no lone sharks.

A pair of great white sharks have seemingly become travel companions — swimming some 4,000 miles up from the Georgia coast to Nova Scotia together — in what one aquatic expert described as “groundbreaking.”

The marine beasts, named Simon and Jekyll, “seem to be buddies” and could even be biological bros, OCEARCH scientist Dr. Bob Hueter said in a video posted online .

Great whites, also known as just white sharks, are generally believed to be solitary creatures, according to the chief scientist at the marine research nonprofit.

The male sharks were each captured and fitted with a tracking device by OCEARCH off Georgia just five days apart in December and after they were released, they’ve been traveling along the same route at the same time, Hueter told the Museum of Science in the clip.

Great white shark on deck of boat.

The duo’s last pinged location was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to the OCEARCH shark tracker .

“We’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” said Hueter who has been studying shark behavior since the 1970s.

OCEARCH is now testing DNA samples that its researchers collected when they captured and tagged the great whites to determine if Simon and Jekyll could be brothers or half-brothers moving along the same path.

Simon and Jekyll are both juvenile male sharks and were tagged off St. Simon’s Island on Dec. 4 and Jekyll Island on Dec. 9 respectively. Simon weighs 434 pounds and measures 9-foot-6, while Jekyll checks in at 395 pounds and 8-foot-8, according to OCEARCH, based in Utah.

Great white shark bites buoy from underwater.

Sharks have been observed spending time together to mate or even hunt, but according to Hueter, they migrate alone.

However, Simon and Jekyll have stayed within 10 to 100 miles of one another on their trip up north, he told the Washington Post.

Hueter doesn’t currently have an explanation for the unusual social behavior of the shark friends, but he described the discovery as a potential breakthrough in shark research and awareness.

“In a way, it’s humanizing,” he told the New York Times , adding that it’s a reminder that “they have siblings. They have a mother. They have a father.”

“They’re just trying to make a living in the ocean,” he said. “And we need them for the balance of life in the sea.”

Share this article:

2 great white sharks travel together

How Two Great White Shark ‘Buddies’ Could Change Perceptions of the Species

A pair of great white sharks named Simon and Jekyll have been swimming together for more than 4,000 miles in recent months

Sarah Kuta

Daily Correspondent

Great white shark underwater

Great white sharks are typically loners, swimming through the world’s vast oceans largely on their own, in search of prey and mates. That’s why scientists were so perplexed—and intrigued—when they noticed an odd pattern in tracking data from two sharks, named Simon and Jekyll .

The two males have traveled more than 4,000 miles together since they were each fitted with tracking devices in December off the coast of Georgia. From there, they swam north through the Atlantic Ocean and had reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Quebec by late July.

“They’ve taken an unusually synchronous path north,” says Bob Hueter , chief scientist for Ocearch, the group tracking the sharks, to the Boston Herald ’s Rick Sobey. “It’s the first time we’ve seen something like this, and it’s very interesting. It’s mysterious, and it’s exciting.”

Now, scientists are trying to puzzle out what’s going on. Are the two sharks friends ? Are they brothers or half-siblings? And do they have more companions swimming with them that just aren’t tagged?

Researchers at Ocearch, a nonprofit that studies sharks and other marine animals, are now conducting genetic testing to see if Simon and Jekyll may be related. No matter their relationship, the pair’s unique behavior may prompt researchers to ask new and different questions in a bid to better understand the vulnerable species .

At the very least, the discovery that sharks may hang out together could impact conservation efforts. The team at Ocearch, for example, is working to shift the narrative around white sharks so that people will view them less as blood-thirsty monsters and more as vital players in a healthy ocean ecosystem worthy of protection. The group’s tagline is “facts over fear.”

To that end, the revelations about Simon and Jekyll are “humanizing,” as Hueter tells the New York Times ’ Chang Che.

“They have siblings. They have a mother. They have a father,” he adds to the publication. “They’re just trying to make a living in the ocean, and we need them for the balance of life in the sea.”

Simon and Jekyll are adding to the limited understanding scientists have of sharks’ social behavior. In a 2020 study , researchers learned that grey reef sharks in the Pacific Ocean may spend time in groups for up to four years. Another paper recorded white sharks spending time together near Guadalupe Island in Mexico, perhaps as a strategy to learn where prey can be found or to eat the remains of another shark’s meal. In that region, some sharks were more social than others.

But beyond that, social behavior among sharks is “something that’s not particularly well-known,” as Hueter tells the Washington Post ’s Kyle Melnick. “And it’s not thought to be something that they have much of, except in maybe isolated cases of certain species.”

The pair of sharks were named for the Georgia islands that scientists tagged them near: St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island. The two animals, which are likely between 10 and 15 years old, join the ranks of the 92 white sharks that Ocearch has tracked to date.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Sarah Kuta

Sarah Kuta | READ MORE

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

  • Today's news
  • Reviews and deals
  • Climate change
  • 2024 election
  • My portfolio
  • My watchlist
  • Stock market
  • Biden economy
  • Personal finance
  • Stocks: most actives
  • Stocks: gainers
  • Stocks: losers
  • Trending tickers
  • World indices
  • US Treasury bonds
  • Top mutual funds
  • Highest open interest
  • Highest implied volatility
  • Currency converter
  • Basic materials
  • Communication services
  • Consumer cyclical
  • Consumer defensive
  • Financial services
  • Industrials
  • Real estate
  • Mutual funds
  • Credit card rates
  • Balance transfer credit cards
  • Business credit cards
  • Cash back credit cards
  • Rewards credit cards
  • Travel credit cards
  • Checking accounts
  • Online checking accounts
  • High-yield savings accounts
  • Money market accounts
  • Personal loans
  • Student loans
  • Car insurance
  • Home buying
  • Options pit
  • Investment ideas
  • Research reports
  • Fantasy football
  • Pro Pick 'Em
  • College Pick 'Em
  • Fantasy baseball
  • Fantasy hockey
  • Fantasy basketball
  • Download the app
  • Daily Fantasy
  • Scores and schedules
  • GameChannel
  • World Baseball Classic
  • Premier League
  • CONCACAF League
  • Champions League
  • College football
  • Motorsports
  • Horse racing
  • Newsletters

Entertainment

  • How to watch
  • Fall allergies
  • Health news
  • Mental health
  • Sexual health
  • Family health
  • So mini ways
  • Style and beauty
  • Unapologetically
  • Buying guides

New on Yahoo

  • Privacy Dashboard

Researchers are shocked to find 2 great white sharks have become 'buddies' since the predators are typically solitary creatures

Researchers said they were shocked to find out that two great white sharks had become friends.

The sharks, Simon and Jekyll, have traveled more than 4,000 miles together up the Atlantic Coast.

A scientist said finding these "buddies" was surprising because white sharks were usually solitary.

Turns out that even chronically single apex predators may need companionship sometimes.

Researchers were shocked to discover that two great white sharks — typically solitary creatures — had seemingly become friends and had traveled thousands of miles together.

Scientists at Ocearch, a nonprofit research organization, first tagged Simon and Jekyll with location trackers in December off the coast of Georgia, according to the group's website .

Ocearch said in a video posted on Facebook that scientists had since learned that the sharks had traveled practically side-by-side for more than 4,000 miles up the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Great white sharks travel hundreds of miles north from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas in the summer to search for gray seals. Canda's rebounding seal population attracts the predators, Live Science reported.

Why are these two great white sharks sticking together?

"This is potentially groundbreaking," Bob Hueter, the chief scientist at Ocearch, said in the Facebook video, adding, "We've never seen anything quite like this before."

Heuter continued, "White sharks lead a very solitary existence. We don't really expect to see these white sharks staying together, but Simon and Jekyll, they seem to be buddies in the sense that they're going in the same place at the same time."

Heuter said in the video that Ocearch was planning to conduct genetic analyses on samples of the sharks' DNA to determine whether the pair were brothers or half-brothers.

They're both juvenile sharks, with Simon weighing in at 434 pounds and 9 feet 6 inches long and Jekyll at 395 pounds and 8 feet 8 inches, according to their profiles on Ocearch's website.

Gray reef sharks , sand tigers , and hammerheads form social groups to some degree. Yannis Papastamatiou, a professor at Florida International University, said behavior varied from shark to shark even though great white sharks were usually solitary. Some are friendly, and others prefer to be alone.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Recommended Stories

Russell wilson's hurried deal with steelers may say a lot about his intentions, and pittsburgh's.

Wilson's announced deal with Pittsburgh went down before free agency even began. Why were both sides so quick to link up?

Nick Saban: The way Alabama players reacted after Rose Bowl loss 'contributed' to decision to retire

Saban retired Jan. 10 after 17 seasons and six national titles at Alabama.

Biden is spreading $442 billion across the US. The impact could be greatest where he’s least popular.

Two of Joe Biden's signature laws appear all but certain to have the most impact in rural corners of the US that are far from the President's likely base of voters this November.

South Carolina tops LSU in SEC title game marred by bench-clearing scuffle, mass ejections

Mass ejections with 2:08 remaining in the game left both teams shorthanded.

Anthony Davis overwhelms Timberwolves with first-of-its-kind stat line in Lakers win

Davis dominated a beleaguered Timberwolves front line.

With another Big Ten tourney title after a second-half rally, Iowa may have just done itself a huge favor

The Hawkeyes needed a furious comeback and overtime magic to topple Nebraska. In eking out the win though, they likely locked up a No. 1 seed and should avoid South Carolina until the Final Four.

Anthony Joshua knocks Francis Ngannou out cold with vicious 2nd-round finish

AJ knocked down the former UFC champ three times in two rounds.

49ers reportedly plan to release DL Arik Armstead after he declined 'significant' pay cut

A key member of San Francisco's defense will reportedly be a free agent.

USWNT wins W Gold Cup on the backs of 2 young midfielders once overlooked for World Cup

The USWNT beat Brazil 1-0 in Sunday's inaugural W Gold Cup final.

Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua full results: Joshua quickly KOs Ngannou

It was lights out for the former UFC champion, who is now 0-2 in his boxing career.

This 54-square-foot studio without bathroom or kitchen rented for nearly $1,300 in Manhattan

The median asking rent in the city — including all five boroughs — hit $3,575, or 2.4%, in February, according to listing platform StreetEasy.

Watch what bullets the Tesla Cybertruck can (and can't) stop

Electric wheelchair builder and YouTube phone durability tester JerryRigEverything tests several calibers against the Tesla's outer skin. See which ones get through.

Concacaf W Gold Cup final: How to watch the USWNT vs. Brazil match tonight

The Concacaf W Gold Cup concludes tonight when the USWNT faces Brazil in the final.

Kristen Stewart rules 'Love Lies Bleeding' press tour in powerful fashion statements: See all her looks

The actor is never shy on the red carpet, and she's not stopping now.

Broncos reportedly trade WR Jerry Jeudy to Browns in exchange for picks

The Broncos reportedly received a fifth- and sixth-round pick in return.

Russell Wilson's best team fits now that Broncos are moving on

Where might he land?

Rising Rockets star Alperen Sengun leaves game in wheelchair after frightening fall

Sengun covered his head in his hands as he was wheeled off the floor.

The Celtics' winning streak is over — and the way it ended is enough to cast some doubt moving forward

The Celtics still own the league’s best record by a country mile, but their duality was on full display Tuesday night.

So, is it better to wash with a loofah or a washcloth? Here's the expert-approved answer

Both loofah lovers and washcloth fans are going to want to pay attention.

NASCAR: Christopher Bell wins at Phoenix

Bell took over the lead after teammate Martin Truex Jr. had to make his final pit stop of the day.

  • Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

White Sharks May Have ‘Buddies,’ Researchers Say

Scientists have discovered two white sharks that appear to be travel companions, swimming over 4,000 miles together since they were fitted with satellite tags in December.

A white shark turns its body and opens its mouth to bite three spherical objects floating together on the surface of the water.

By Chang Che

In the minds of many, the fearsome white shark is a loner. It cares only about food, not its own kind. But new research indicates that some of the creatures may actually have friends.

Scientists with Ocearch, an organization that studies sharks and other marine life, have discovered two male white sharks that could be described as “buddies,” they said. The two animals have been traveling together since last December, when they were fitted with satellite tags off the coast of Georgia, Ocearch reported.

“We’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” Bob Hueter, the chief scientist at Ocearch, said in a video posted to the group’s Facebook page this week.

The two sharks, named Simon and Jekyll , swam “together in tandem” for more than 4,000 miles up the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, south of Quebec, where trackers last located them in late July, Dr. Hueter said in the video. When one was tagged on Dec. 4 and the other on Dec. 9, the fish were roughly nine feet long and were not yet of mating age.

Researchers at Ocearch are now testing blood samples from the sharks, which they collected in December, to see whether they could be siblings or half siblings. The findings could raise new questions about white shark migration patterns and relationships, and spawn new approaches to shark conservation, Dr. Hueter said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

At least since Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel “Jaws” and its celebrated film adaptation, Americans have regarded white sharks with both fear and awe. But as overfishing brings the shark population to the point of extinction , scientists have pushed for a new understanding of sharks as creatures to be protected, not demonized. The loss of sharks, who are apex predators, could disrupt the balance of entire marine ecosystems and threaten the food security of many countries.

The Ocearch findings are part of a broader body of research that has emerged in recent years that is challenging the public impression of white sharks as antisocial creatures, said Yannis Papastamatiou, an ecologist at Florida International University in Miami.

“Some species of shark can form quite strong social bonds and social groups,” he said.

But the bonds between sharks are likely different from those between humans. Sharks, Dr. Papastamatiou said, may spend time with each other in order to mate, more easily find food or fend off predators. (Killer whales, among others, are known to prey on sharks.)

In a 2020 study in the Pacific Ocean, Dr. Papastamatiou and other researchers found that a different shark species, known as the grey reef shark, tended to stick with the same social group for as long as four years. He said he had also observed white sharks “ hanging out ” with each other for hours in specific sites where the animals tend to gather.

Simon and Jekyll could add to that picture, he said, demonstrating that white sharks may “actually travel to and from these sites together.” They may even have more friends who are not yet tagged, he added.

Ocearch researchers have tagged 92 white sharks since 2012 to study the creatures’ migration and mating patterns, according to Dr. Hueter. So far, only Simon and Jekyll have moved together in such proximity.

Still, Dr. Hueter believes the two sharks are potentially groundbreaking and could draw more attention to the cause of shark conservation.

“In a way, it’s humanizing,” he said of the discovery, a reminder that “they have siblings. They have a mother. They have a father.”

“They’re just trying to make a living in the ocean,” he said. “And we need them for the balance of life in the sea.”

Chang Che is the Asia technology correspondent for The Times. He previously worked for The China Project and as a freelance writer covering Chinese technology and society. More about Chang Che

Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks travelling together shock researchers

Chief scientist says the development is 'potentially groundbreaking,' as the apex predators have long been thought to be solitary.

2 great white sharks travel together

Traveling long distances without a companion can become kind of lonely — and that apparently even goes for solitary creatures like great white sharks.

Scientists at the nonprofit research organization OCEARCH were surprised when they recently discovered that two sharks they had tagged with satellite trackers in December have since traveled side by side for thousands of miles.

The discovery sheds new light on everything we thought we knew about the apex predators, once believed to only prefer their own company, according to Bob Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH.

"This is potentially groundbreaking," Hueter said in a video posted Sunday on the Facebook page of the Museum of Science in Boston. "We've never seen anything quite like this before."

'Something profoundly wrong': Marine biologists puzzled by large beaching of pilot whales

'They seem to be buddies'

Researchers at OCEARCH first tagged the sharks, named Simon and Jekyll for the Georgia islands where they were found, in December on the southeastern coast of the United States. Since then, satellite data has shown the predators moving in tandem along the Atlantic coast for more than 4,000 miles, Hueter said.

Simon , a 9-footer weighing 434 pounds, and 8-foot-long Jekyll , who weights 395 pounds, eventually reached Canadian waters and have most recently been tracked to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Before the OCEARCH team tagged the sharks, Hueter said that they took samples of blood, tissue and muscle. A geneticist will analyze those samples to determine whether Simon and Jekyll are brothers or otherwise related, he said.

'My office is the Everglades': Florida woman gave up real estate job to hunt Burmese pythons

OCEARCH has tagged more than 400 animals since its first expedition in 2007. And while its research has yielded more than 75 published studies , the team never thought they'd discover that yes, sharks can be friendly.

"Simon and Jekyll," Hueter said. "They seem to be buddies."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].

What's Hot

Scientists discover 2 great white sharks who are best buds.

Hilary Hanson

Deputy Editor, Trends, HuffPost

2 great white sharks travel together

The vast ocean is a lot less lonely with a buddy.

Scientists have discovered two great white sharks , known as Simon and Jekyll , who have been traveling together “in tandem” up the coast of North America for more than 4,000 miles.

“This is potentially groundbreaking,” Bob Hueter, chief scientist at marine research organization OCEARCH, said in a video posted to Facebook on Sunday.

“White sharks lead a very solitary existence,” he continued. “We don’t really expect to see these white sharks staying together, but Simon and Jekyll ― they seem to be buddies in the sense that they’re going the same place at the same time.”

A great white shark, but not Simon or Jekyll. We don't know if this shark has any friends at all.

Researchers began tracking the two relatively young males in December last year, when they were briefly caught and tagged with tracking devices near the southeast coast of the United States. Since then, the pair of apex predators made the long journey north to Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, swimming together all the while.

Ecologist Yannis Papastamatiou of Florida International University told The New York Times that in his own research, he’s seen white sharks “hanging out” together at specific sites for hours on end. He noted that sharks may group together for purposes like mating, fending off predators or finding food.

In an article last year for The Conversation , Papastamatiou also cited a study of white sharks in Australia that found sharks congregating around a seal colony would tend to spend time with the same individuals within the larger group.

“The fact that white sharks not only stay close to each other but also have preferred buddies got me wondering if maybe these animals were more social than people thought,” Papastamatiou wrote at the time.

In the OCEARCH video, Hueter added in the video that researchers will be analyzing Simon and Jekyll’s blood ― samples of which were taken when they were tagged ― to determine if they are siblings, in case that may play any role in their close relationship.

Support HuffPost

Our 2024 coverage needs you, your loyalty means the world to us.

At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.

Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or trending stories that make you laugh, we appreciate you. The truth is, news costs money to produce, and we are proud that we have never put our stories behind an expensive paywall.

Would you join us to help keep our stories free for all? Your contribution of as little as $2 will go a long way.

As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.

Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.

Contribute as little as $2 to keep our news free for all.

Dear HuffPost Reader

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you’ll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.

Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.

Popular in the Community

From our partner, more in environment.

2 great white sharks travel together

Not so solitary predators? Great white shark duo appear to be travelling together

Jekyll and simon have followed a surprisingly similar migratory route, challenging scientists’ assumptions.

2 great white sharks travel together

Social Sharing

2 great white sharks travel together

Jekyll and Simon keep showing up in all the same places — which is weird, because they are great white sharks.

The apex predators are widely believed to be solitary creatures, not dependent on family networks or group dynamics to navigate the oceans, unlike many of their marine neighbours.

"What we've noticed with the case of Simon and Jekyll … was an incredible, I would say, synchronicity in their movements," shark scientist Bob Hueter told A s It Happens guest host Paul Hunter. 

Hueter is the chief scientist at Ocearch, a U.S.-based marine research institute that's currently tracking 92 great white sharks. Two of those sharks, Jekyll and Simon, were tagged off the coast of the state of Georgia in December 2022.

Over the last eight months, his team started to notice a pattern emerge with Jekyll and Simon — their trackers keep pinging in the same part of the ocean at the same time .

The unlikely duo have travelled the same migratory route from Georgia to New England to Maine and into Canada, where they have spent the summer hunting off the coasts of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 

By the time they reached Nova Scotia, Hueter says "it became almost like a lockstep migration of the two."

Not side-by-side

But the scientist wants to be clear that when he says they are in the same place, he means within a few kilometres of each other. 

"It is really important to emphasize we're not talking about two animals that are swimming side-by-side," he said. 

"They probably are not, you know, able to see each other except maybe at times when they cross each other's paths. They're not communicating with each other in any way that we would understand. But they're just so synchronized."

A great white shark with a device attached to its fin pictured from underwater swimming alongside a boat.

Conservation biologist Mikki McComb-Kobza — who has previously worked with Ocearch but is not involved in this research — says she's excited to see what scientists will learn from Simon and Jekyll.

"It's really, really something we haven't seen before there," McComb-Kobza, executive director of the Ocean First Institute in Boulder, Colo., told CBC.

"What it suggests is that, you know, there may be a migratory route that these ... animals, or white sharks in general, are following, and we just don't know that because we haven't tagged that many individuals."

Jekyll and Simon are both juvenile males of approximately the same age, which leads Hueter and his colleagues to suspect they may be genetically related — maybe even brothers. 

The researchers have taken tissue samples of both creatures and are currently waiting for the results of DNA tests. 

One man fiddles with a tracking device on the fin of a great white shark on the deck of a ship, while another man empties a bucket of water over the unconscious animal. A wet towel is draped over the shark's head.

"If they are, in fact, siblings and they've undergone these migrations, these very specific points, it revolutionizes our perspective on the genetic basis of this migratory behaviour," he said.

It would suggest, he said, that sharks aren't so solo after all. Potentially, they travel in family packs. 

"That's a very different perspective from ... sort of a mindless, you know, big predator that's just cruising around, following water temperatures and currents, and following the prey," he said.

"This is more directed, it's more genetically programmed. And for us as biologists, it's in some ways more exciting."

'Canada is white shark territory'

It could also impact how scientists approach great white conservation, as it pertains to populations in specific areas. 

"If you don't protect what needs to be protected … you're not just wiping out a sort of a sample of the population, but you're wiping out a whole genetic component of the population," he said. "Wiping out families, essentially." 

And conservation in Canada is key to shark survival, he says. The East Coast has seen an explosion of great whites in recent years, something many experts have credited to strong federal protections , not just for the sharks, but for the seals they feast upon. 

Since Ocearch started tagging and tracking the animals, Hueter says one thing has become abundantly clear: "Canada is white shark territory in the summertime, no question about it."

A map of the U.S. and Canada shows "First Ping" off the coast of Georgia on Dec. 5, 2022, and the "Latest Ping" near Quebec on Aug. 18, 2023. A yellow line connects both pings, showing where the shark has travelled, with yellow circles to indicate each ping. The "Latest Ping" features a small icon of a shark.

And if the sharks aren't related?

"It could be a coincidence. There might be more to it. But I think that is what science represents — is that as we learn more, we get additional questions," McComb-Kobza said.

"I think that's the really exciting part of this, is that as we learn where these animals are going through these satellite tags, it allows us to understand and ask more questions."

  • Q&A Why some scientists want to rebrand shark attacks as 'negative encounters'
  • Footage shows pod of orcas killing a great white shark and devouring its liver

Scientists are just starting to scratch the surface of great white shark behaviour, she said, and they may have to throw out a lot of their previous assumptions.

"We don't spend enough time underwater with our eyes or our cameras to know what these animals are doing," McComb-Kobza said.

Interview with Bob Hueter produced by McKenna Hadley-Burke

Related Stories

  • Shark Week has too many white men and is prone to 'fear mongering': study
  • How does a male orca stay out of trouble? With a lot of help from mom 
  • As It Happens Scientists discover rare, thriving octopus nursery — and maybe a new species
  • Dolphins are teaching each other how to use shells to catch and eat fish
  • Real-life baby shark looks alien, but scientists are excited about finding it
  • Scientists set sail to find out if these 'unbelievably cute' marine porpoises still exist

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Get the CBC Radio newsletter. We'll send you a weekly roundup of the best CBC Radio programming every Friday.

Local News | Two great white sharks have traveled a very…

Share this:.

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Your Tax Dollars
  • Massachusetts

Local News | Two great white sharks have traveled a very similar 4,000-mile path up the Atlantic coast. Are they brothers?

This white shark named Jekyll has migrated from the coast of Georgia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the coast of Canada. Another shark named Simon has also traveled a very similar path. (OCEARCH/Chris Ross)

Are two great white sharks that have taken a very similar path north this year brothers or half brothers?

That’s what shark researchers are trying to figure out, after juvenile male white sharks Simon and Jekyll were both tagged off the coast of Georgia and have moved close to one another up the Atlantic coast for more than 4,000 miles.

Historically, white sharks have been known as solitary animals migrating on their own, but Simon and Jekyll are traveling to the same place at the same time.

“They’ve taken an unusually synchronous path north,” OCEARCH Chief Scientist Bob Hueter told the Herald.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen something like this, and it’s very interesting, it’s mysterious and it’s exciting,” he added.

When OCEARCH researchers tagged 9-footer Simon and 8-footer Jekyll off the Georgia coast in December, the scientists took a number of samples — including blood, tissue and muscle samples.

The researchers have asked a geneticist to examine the samples, and see if they’re siblings moving along the same path.

“We’re excited to find out if there’s a family relationship between them,” Hueter said.

He noted that Simon and Jekyll are not swimming side-by-side, fin-to-fin. But the sharks have been traveling on a very, very similar path, he emphasized.

The latest pings for the great white sharks have shown them way up north, deep in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canadian waters.

While Cape Cod is a hotspot for white shark activity in the summer and fall , Atlantic Canada is also a popular area for the apex predators.

“More than half of our tagged sharks bypass Cape Cod and go to Atlantic Canada now,” Hueter said. “It’s a core area for them in the summertime, and it’s just as important as Cape Cod now.”

The results of the genetic testing are potentially groundbreaking because shark researchers have been in the dark about white sharks’ social and family structures.

“They have appeared to be solitary animals,” Hueter said. “They come together to aggregation sites to feed, like along Cape Cod, but we haven’t known anything about the relationships between and among white sharks before.”

This 9-foot juvenile white shark named Simon was recently detected in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near another white shark named Jekyll. (OCEARCH/Chris Ross)

More in Local News

Joe Fitz, this appreciation is for you.

SUBSCRIBER ONLY

Local news | appreciation: joe fitzgerald belonged to boston.

The MBTA evacuated 25 people from a Green Line train Saturday morning after it derailed near Kenmore Station, the head of the transit agency said.

Local News | Green Line derailment at Kenmore leads to hours-long disruption

Pols plan to pack a South Boston union hall for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast on March 17, when electeds from around the state will have a chance to crack a few jokes as they hammer down food.

Local News | St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast heading back to Ironworkers Union Hall in South Boston

Critics are coughing in disgust that the state Supreme Judicial Court has upheld Brookline’s ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born this century, while the ruling has placed advocates into a relaxed state of mind.

Local News | SJC: Brookline tobacco sale ban for people born this century OK

Scientists Discover 2 Great White Sharks Who Are Best Buds

Hilary Hanson

Assignment editor, HuffPost

2 great white sharks travel together

The vast ocean is a lot less lonely with a buddy.

Scientists have discovered two great white sharks , known as Simon and Jekyll , who have been traveling together “in tandem” up the coast of North America for more than 4,000 miles.

“This is potentially groundbreaking,” Bob Hueter, chief scientist at marine research organization OCEARCH, said in a video posted to Facebook on Sunday.

“White sharks lead a very solitary existence,” he continued. “We don’t really expect to see these white sharks staying together, but Simon and Jekyll ― they seem to be buddies in the sense that they’re going the same place at the same time.”

A great white shark, but not Simon or Jekyll. We don't know if this shark has any friends at all.

Researchers began tracking the two relatively young males in December last year, when they were briefly caught and tagged with tracking devices near the southeast coast of the United States. Since then, the pair of apex predators made the long journey north to Canada’s Gulf of St Lawrence, swimming together all the while.

Ecologist Yannis Papastamatiou of Florida International University told The New York Times that in his own research, he’s seen white sharks “hanging out” together at specific sites for hours on end. He noted that sharks may group together for purposes like mating, fending off predators or finding food.

In an article last year for The Conversation , Papastamatiou also cited a study of white sharks in Australia that found sharks congregating around a seal colony would tend to spend time with the same individuals within the larger group.

“The fact that white sharks not only stay close to each other but also have preferred buddies got me wondering if maybe these animals were more social than people thought,” Papastamatiou wrote at the time.

In the OCEARCH video, Hueter added in the video that researchers will be analysing Simon and Jekyll’s blood ― samples of which were taken when they were tagged ― to determine if they are siblings, in case that may play any role in their close relationship.

From Our Partner

What's hot, more in news.

2 great white sharks travel together

NEW 50% OFF TO ALL DESTINATION

PARAMOUNT Travelex Eco Branch

Pakej Umrah 2023/2024

Corporate visit now available with PARAMOUNT Travelex

PARAMOUNT TRAVELEX

Item added to your cart

Meet simon and jekyll, two great white sharks on a 4,000-mile journey together. are they … friends.

PHOTOGRAPH BY OCEARCH/CHRIS ROSS

Scientists explain what’s really going on with two white sharks traveling along the Atlantic coast.

Slowly, a great white shark swims toward the boat and onto a specialized hydraulic lift. Lured in by bait, the shark’s mouth is hooked, and it is encouraged to swim to the boat like “teaching a dog to walk on a leash,” says Bob Hueter , the chief scientist at OCEARCH, a nonprofit that specializes in shark tracking. 

Once the shark is lifted onto the boat, "it's like a pit crew in an auto race," Hueter says. One scientist ventilates the shark by putting a hose of cool seawater into its mouth, while another attaches a tail rope to prevent the animal from hurting itself. In about 15 minutes, the research team performs about a dozen procedures , including measuring the shark, running ultrasound scans, and taking blood, muscle, semen, and fecal samples for various research projects.

The work is part of OCEARCH’s efforts to study great whites in the western North Atlantic, a less well-researched population than others around the world. "Here we are at the location of Jaws , and yet we didn't really know the animals as well as we should," Hueter says.

Two juvenile great whites tagged in this way, Simon and Jekyll , recently became famous thanks to a social media post that pointed out the pair had been traveling together for 4,000 miles up the North American Atlantic coast. People began to wonder if the sharks might be friends—but the situation is not so simple.

“Friendship implies an emotional connection. That's not what this is about,” says Yannis Papastamatiou , a biologist at Florida International University who is not involved in the project. “Sharks don't form any emotional bonds with each other. Most animals don't.”

These sharks may not be “friends,” but there are no previous records of two sharks traveling together for such a long period, leading scientists to wonder what this could reveal about the mysteries of shark migration.

The strange case of Simon and Jekyll

The two juvenile males—each between 10 and 15 years old and over eight feet long—were first tagged off the coast of Georgia in December 2022. The tags transmit data via satellite when one of the sharks surfaces, allowing researchers and the public to follow the animals’ movements online in real-time.

In the spring, sharks migrate to summer foraging grounds. Salvador Jorgensen , a marine ecologist at California State University, explains that the sharks he studies in the eastern Pacific travel to and from “the white shark cafe”—a remote spot in the Pacific Ocean between Baja California and Hawaii with plentiful fish and squid—at slightly different times. “Many males execute very similar migratory routes and cycles, but travel separately,” Jorgensen says.

When Simon and Jekyll reached Long Island, researchers noticed their tracks were remarkably similar. Then they arrived in Novia Scotia "within practically the same day,” says Hueter—odd behavior for great whites. “We sat up and said: What's going on here?"

Although this was a one-time event, such a similar route for the two sharks over a long time and distance is significant. “It's not like you're just taking one quick snapshot,” Papastamatiou explains. “If you were driving your car, and another car was 200 meters behind you all the way from Florida to New York, you're traveling together.”

Social sharks?

Great whites are traditionally viewed as solitary, but researchers believe they may display some social behaviors like other shark species .

Because fish don’t display obvious caring behaviors, such as grooming or looking after young, researchers determine social bonds by measuring whether individuals spend more time together than they would by chance. One study found the associations formed by white sharks are not coincidence , while another found that they may remain close while hunting to benefit from food scraps after a kill.

“Surprisingly, we see more and more that white sharks might fit into that social category,” Papastamatiou says. If something similar were happening with Simon and Jekyll, “this would be the first time we would have evidence of [white sharks] actually traveling to these sites together.”

Jorgensen thinks there may be other reasons the pair followed the same route. “Are these two sharks following similar environmental cues and instinctual impulses, which could lead to parallel movements?” he wonders.

Heuter explains that sharks are guided by factors such as seawater temperatures, the amount of light each day, and the location of hotspots for certain kinds of prey. They’ve also traveled these routes before, “so they know the road,” he says.

Blood brothers?

Another possibility remains. The researchers are currently running genetic tests to find out whether Simon and Jekyll are related.

“If I was a betting man, the smart money would be that they're not siblings, that this is just a very unusually synchronized, almost coincidental juxtaposition of these animals as they follow the normal run to the north,” Heuter says.

However, if the results do reveal Simon and Jekyll are brothers, it could “revolutionize the perspective on sibling relationships in these animals,” he adds. “This really makes us stop and think about the genetic basis of these migratory movements.”

Even if they are related, the sharks may not necessarily be traveling together. They could both simply be following similar instincts. “More closely related individuals might have greater similarity in their innate migratory clock and compass,” suggests Jorgensen.

Whether or not Simon and Jekyll are intentionally sticking together, their common route is revealing new secrets of how these apex predators prowl the seas.

  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
  • Opens in a new window.

A Pair of Great White Sharks Traveling Together Is Confusing Experts: ‘Seem to Be Buddies’

A Pair of Great White Sharks Traveling Together Is Confusing Experts: ‘Seem to Be Buddies’

Capitol Hill Physician Rules Out Seizure or Stroke After Examining McConnell

Panicked Final Call Made Before Death of Mitch McConnell’s Sister-In-Law

Roughly 5,000 Illegal Immigrants Released Into US Daily, Biden Officials Say: Report

Judge Upholds Biden Scheme to Move 30,000 More Migrants Per Month Into US

Jimmy Kimmel Reads Trump’s Brutal ‘Review’ of His Performance While Hosting the Oscars

Jimmy Kimmel Reads Trump’s Brutal ‘Review’ of His Performance While Hosting the Oscars

State Supreme Court Shuts Down Attempt to Surveil Citizens Using Aircraft and Zoom Lenses

State Supreme Court Shuts Down Attempt to Surveil Citizens Using Aircraft and Zoom Lenses

Deadly Daylight Saving Time Is Literally Deadly – Increases Heart Attacks, Strokes Some Studies Show

Deadly Daylight Saving Time Is Literally Deadly – Increases Heart Attacks, Strokes Some Studies Show

Pope Says He Respects SCOTUS’ Decision to Overturn Roe v Wade, But Still Needs to Study It

Pope Francis Makes ‘White Flag’ Statement on Ukraine

Lara Trump Reveals Top Priority as New RNC Co-Chair

Lara Trump Reveals Top Priority as New RNC Co-Chair

2 great white sharks travel together

Nearly 19 Million People Have Seen Elon Musk’s Warning: Democrats’ Census Scheme Has Changed the ‘Entire Balance of Power’

The NXXT women’s golf tour announced only athletes who were born female could compete. That means transgender Hailey Davidson will no longer be playing on the tour.

Golf Tour CEO Reveals Transgender Ban Came After Pro Females Were Defeated by Male and Had an ‘Overwhelming’ Response

A new study revealed that a remarkable fossil discovery in the Italian Alps of a small lizard-like creature supposedly killed 280 million years ago, with its soft tissues incredibly preserved as a carbonaceous film, is, in fact, a fake, according to Forbes.

Paleontologists Just Took a Closer Look at Renowned Fossil from 1930s, Realize Science Has Been Fooled for Nearly a Century

President Joe Biden is interviewed by MSNBC on Saturday.

Biden Has ‘Regret’ for What He Said About Lincoln Riley Murder Suspect

A bull elk dies under mysterious circumstances in Montana.

Limping Bull Elk Mysteriously Dies, They Cut Open Lump in Its Thigh and Find a Telling Piece of Green Plastic

  • Trending Topics:    
  • 2024 Election
  • Donald Trump
  • Immigration

IJR

(Reinhard Dirscherl/Getty Images)

Two great white sharks are confusing experts by sticking together. Usually solitary creatures, these two males have been tagged and recorded migrating as a pair. 

The Boston Museum of Science posted about the odd couple on Aug. 6 and asked, “What happens when two white sharks become best friends?”

What happens when two white sharks become best friends? Meet Simon and Jekyll, the dynamic duo challenging everything we thought we knew about these solitary creatures. @Ocearch has tagged both of these apex predators and have noticed they’ve moved together up the Atlantic coast… pic.twitter.com/kvw2ip314r — Museum of Science (@museumofscience) August 6, 2023

They also noted these sharks are “challenging everything we thought we knew.”

The pair, named Simon and Jekyll, are being studied after scientists tagged them last December, per the  Washington Post . 

A Utah-based non-profit, dedicated to studying marine life called OCEARCH, made the discovery. They caught and tagged the sharks off the coast of Georgia within five days of each other. 

Simon was found near St. Simon’s island, and Jekyll was caught near Jekyll Island. The sharks are both between 10-and-15-year-old males.

It was discovered by April that the sharks had found each other and were traveling up the Atlantic coast. They traveled within 10 to 100 miles of each other through Ocracoke, N.C., Virginia Beach, and Atlantic City.

By July 4, they had gotten near the southern coast of Nova Scotia together. They journeyed past Halifax, around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and then reached Quebec’s eastern coast. 

Their last known destination point was recorded on Aug. 11. The pair was off the northeast coast of the province of New Brunswick. 

The chief scientist at OCEARCH, Robert Hueter, said, “Social behavior in sharks is something that’s not particularly well-known.”

“And it’s not thought to be something that they have much of, except in maybe isolated cases of certain species,” he added. 

He also noted they are testing blood samples to determine whether Simon and Jekyll are brothers. 

He did state white sharks “were already more complex than we used to think they were.”

If this pair turns out to be related, it would change the way experts view the species. 

Hueter said, “Now this adds a whole new element of sort of a familial and social component to migration.”

Jessica Marie Baumgartner

Jessica Marie Baumgartner

Jessica is a homeschooling mother of 5, and author of "Reclaiming Femininity: Saving Women's Traditions & Our Future." She has written for, "RSBN," "Chicken Soup for the Soul," "The Epoch Times," "Missouri Conservationist," "The Federalist," "The St. Louis Post Dispatch," and her work has won four Missouri Writer's Guild Awards.

US Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Undergoes Bile Duct Procedure in New York Hospital

Ironic: Ginsburg May Have Given Trump Key to Overturning $355 Million NY Judgment Back in 2019

Biden Draws Another Parallel to Jimmy Carter After Embarrassing Defeat on Super Tuesday

Biden Draws Another Parallel to Jimmy Carter After Embarrassing Defeat on Super Tuesday

On Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appeared on CNBC to speak with Joe Kernen. When Buttigieg attempted to blame the border crisis on former President Donald Trump, Kernen did not listen to him.

‘Let Me Finish’ – Pete Buttigieg Torched by CNBC Host Live On Air After He Defends Biden’s Handling of Border Crisis

2 great white sharks travel together

Nancy Sinatra: ‘I’ll Never Forgive the People That Voted for’ Trump ‘Ever’

Susan Rice Shreds Trump Admin and Senate GOP: They Belong in the ‘Trash Heap of History’

Susan Rice Shreds Trump Admin and Senate GOP: They Belong in the ‘Trash Heap of History’

Birx: It Is ‘Difficult to Tell’ If the US Will Close Again If There Is a Second Wave of the Coronavirus

Birx: It Is ‘Difficult to Tell’ If the US Will Close Again If There Is a Second Wave of the Coronavirus

The NXXT women’s golf tour announced only athletes who were born female could compete. That means transgender Hailey Davidson will no longer be playing on the tour.

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Trusted Voices On All Sides

  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Remember Me

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Shark Besties? Great White Sharks Sometimes Travel in Pairs, So Look Out

Even flesh-eating monsters need buds.

Sharknado_hero_sharknadoweek.jpg

Disaster films are a dime a dozen and human vs. animal stories are a centuries-long tradition, but in 2013 the two genres came together for a story the likes of which had never been seen. Iconic SYFY original film   Sharknado  starts with a megastorm that pushes the Pacific into downtown L.A. Then a waterspout (basically a tornado that forms over water) picks up a group of white sharks all swimming together and turns them into a whirling mass of fins and teeth.

In real life, white sharks are often thought of as solitary creatures, quietly patrolling the seas and consuming everything in their path, but recent research suggests they might actually travel in groups.

The Surprising Discovery of Great White Best Friends

Researchers from Ocearch have tagged 92 white sharks with location trackers over the last decade. They’re monitoring the shark’s movements to learn more about their migration patterns and, hopefully, their behavior.

RELATED: Canadian Fisherman Accidentally Catches Great White on Hook - And on Camera

In December 2022, Ocearch scientists picked up two juvenile white sharks , took blood samples, fitted them with tracking tags, and released them back into the water. The two sharks were captured and tagged a few days apart in relatively the same location. Researchers expected them to go off in their own directions like every other shark before them but that didn’t happen. Instead, they’ve been traveling together ever since they were tagged.

Great white sharks underwater

The sharks, affectionately called Simon and Jekyll, have covered more than 4,000 miles together, trailing up the Atlantic coast to a point near Quebec, in July. Researchers are now testing the blood samples they retrieved when the sharks were tagged, to find out if they are biologically related. Whatever the answer, the pairing reveals new information about the social structures of sharks.

It’s unclear precisely why these two sharks are swimming the high seas using the buddy system, but it’s possible having a wingman is beneficial for fending off competitors or predators, capturing prey, and mating. It’s also possible the watery convoy has other members, untagged sharks who are also swimming alongside Simon and Jekyll.

That said, of the 92 sharks Ocearch researchers have tagged since 2012, only these two appear to be swimming together. At the moment, we don’t know if Simon and Jekyll are an anomaly or representative of a wider white shark friendship phenomenon. But their existence and their fellowship suggest that sharks have inner lives which are richer than we imagine, and which don’t revolve entirely around swallowing things alive.

Whether you’re a person or a shark, life is better with friends. And now we know a sharknado might actually be possible. All Simon and Jekyll need is a fortuitously placed waterspout and the guts to take us on.

Catch Sharknado: Heart of Sharkness and Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy streaming now on Peacock!

Related Stories

Alien-Xenomorph.jpg

Greenland Shark Thought to Be 393 Years Old, Give or Take a Century

Jaws

A Killer Whale Took on a Great White Shark One-on-One and Won

NOPE (2022) VFX

Nope VFX Supervisor Dishes on Film's Creature Design

Moonfall Still

How Roland Emmerich Made Up Conspiracy Theory For Moonfall

Resident Alien Season 2 Episode 13

How Resident Alien Made That George Takei Cameo Happen

2 great white sharks travel together

Nathan Fillion's Resident Alien Cameo Explained

2 great white sharks travel together

Why Are Parts of Oppenheimer in Black and White?

Jaws

See the First Images of a Baby Great White Shark (Probably)

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

How to Stream Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey

Batman Begins

Christian Bale Explains Why He Turned Down the Offer to Make a Fourth Dark Knight Film

Robert Shaw struggles in a shark's mouth in Jaws (1975)

A New Study Suggests Megalodon Was Even Longer, but Thinner

A collage of images from each movie from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series.

Are The Harry Potter Movies Streaming on Peacock?

Recommended for you.

Rod Serling wears a suit and stands in front of sign that says "Terminal" on The Twilight Zone.

The Classic Twilight Zone Episode That Inspired Jordan Peele's Us

Harry Vanderspeigle and General Eleanor Wright talk in Resident Alien Episode 301.

Linda Hamilton on Resident Alien Role: "I'm Not the Funny Girl, I'm the Straight Man"

An alien appears a desert in Resident Alien Season 3.

NASA Discovery Could Mean Mars Had Life-Supporting Volcanic Vents

2 great white sharks, including massive 1,300-pound male, ping off Jacksonville, Florida

Two great white sharks , including a massive 13-foot, 1,300-pound specimen named Bob , were tracked off Jacksonville's coast in the past week.

Bob was outfitted with a satellite tag by research group OCEARCH scientists in 2021 during an expedition in Nova Scotia. The tag, placed on his dorsal fin, broke the surface of the water and transmitted his location in the waters off Jacksonville to trackers at 9:25 a.m. on Jan. 31.

The large ocean predator has traveled 4,021 miles since he was tagged and has made several visits to the Sunshine State. He swam as far south as St. Augustine in November 2021 and Flagler Beach in 2022.

A smaller, 8-foot 8-inch OCEARCH -tagged white shark named Jekyll pinged near the same location at 5:34 a.m. Feb. 4.

Jekyll surprised scientists when they discovered he'd been traveling for 4,000 miles alongside a 9-foot white shark named Simon . White sharks were previously thought to prefer only their own company.

But it looks like they may have parted ways.  Simon's tracker  shows him pinging off Marco Island on Feb. 4. Jekyll pinged off South Carolina less than a day before Simon was  tracked off Florida's Treasure Coast  on Jan. 20.

Here's what to know about Bob, Jekyll, OCEARCH and white sharks in Florida:

More about white shark Bob

Bob, an adult male white shark, measured 13 feet 4 inches and weighed a whopping 1,308 pounds when he was tagged in Nova Scotia in September of 2021.

He was named for OCEARCH Chief Scientist Dr. Robert (Bob) Hueter, a pioneer in shark science for over 40 years.

"We’ll be following the journeys of both Bob the shark and Dr. Bob Hueter as they continue to help us grow in the world of science for the betterment of our sharks and our oceans," a note on Bob's OCEARCH tracker page reads.

What to know about great white shark Jekyll

Jekyll was considered a juvenile shark when he was tagged by OCEARCH in December 2022 near Jekyll Island, Georgia. He was 8 foot 8 inches long and weighed 395 pounds.

"Jekyll is our 87th white shark tagged in the Western North Atlantic and our 3rd during Expedition Southbound! He was named by OCEARCH’s community in honor of Jekyll Island, Georgia near where we met him," his OCEARCH tracker page notes. 

Breton, shark known for 'drawing' own portrait, pings off Flagler Beach

Breton, a 13-foot 3-inch, 1,437-pound male shite shark, was swimming off Flagler Beach on Jan. 1 and off Jacksonville's coast on Dec. 21 when trackers received pings of his location.

A closer look at Breton's tracker revealed something amazing. He created a "self-portrait." His pings between September 2020 and January 2022 connect to show what appears to be the outline of a huge shark, with the tail in Nova Scotia, the body along the east coast and head pointed at Florida's east coast.

"You can track Breton, the white shark that made this self-portrait on the OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker," the research group posted on X , formerly Twitter.

White shark Gladee visits Jacksonville waters

A  great white shark  named  Gladee  visited the First Coast.

The  OCEARCH -tagged shark was tracked near Palm Coast in late November and pinged off the coast of Jacksonville on Dec. 14.

Gladee was tagged by  OCEARCH  on Oct. 1, 2020, off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

At that time she was considered a juvenile shark, was 8-feet 8-inches long and weighed 396 pounds.

Gladee has sought out Florida waters at least once before. She ventured past the coast of Daytona Beach in February of 2021. Pings indicate she made as far south as the waters off Florida's border with Georgia but appears to have preferred the Peach State that year.

Why are great white sharks in Florida?

White sharks swim south when the water gets too cold for them and they lack food sources up north, according to  OCEARCH chief scientist Dr. Bob Hueter .

Think of them as the snowbirds of sharks.

Most of them tend to hang out away from the beaches in the continental shelf waters, Hueter said.

What is OCEARCH?

OCEARCH is a nonprofit organization researching the ocean's giants.

The group studies great white sharks and other keystone species essential for the health of the oceans.

OCEARCH recently finished up its 46th expedition, dubbed Expedition Southeast . It departed from Jacksonville on Nov. 17 and made its final docking in Morehead City, North Carolina on Dec. 15.

During the expeditions, researchers collected previously unattainable data on the animals' migrations, reproductive cycle, genetic status, diet, abundance, and more.

"If we lose the apex predator (sharks) then we lose all our fish and then there are no fish sandwiches for our grandchildren," OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer told the Courier Journal . "That's oversimplified, of course, but the idea is important because many shark species are threatened by overfishing and a demand for shark fins in Asia. Their dwindling numbers jeopardize ocean habitats."

Most shark attacks happen in Florida

There were 69 documented unprovoked  shark attacks  around the globe in 2023. The U.S. led the world with 36 attacks and Florida again was the state with the most bites at 16.

Florida shark attacks by county:

  • Volusia County:  8
  • Brevard County: 2
  • St. Lucie County : 2
  • Miami-Dade County: 1
  • Palm Beach County: 1
  • Escambia County: 1
  • Pinellas County: 1

While the U.S. has the most attacks, South Africa has the most shark-related fatalities.

Since 1992, there have been  1,232 shark bites  worldwide, according to data from floridapanhandle.com, with  white sharks credited as the top biters .

Support local journalism by  subscribing to a Florida news organization .

As spring breakers descend on Florida beaches, great white sharks pop up along coast

While chances are slim, shark bites & attacks can happen. us led the world with 36 attacks, florida was the state with most bites at 16..

Traveling to Florida for spring break to enjoy the warm, crystal-blue waters and amazing food options ?

So are North Atlantic great white sharks.

When the waters around Canada and New England get too cold and food sources become scarce, great white sharks head south for the winter and begin to pop up all around the Sunshine State, including the Gulf of Mexico.

They tend to mostly hang out away from beaches in continental shelf waters, according to research group OCEARCH chief scientist Dr. Bob Hueter , but a 2021 Atlantic White Shark Conservancy study found white sharks off Cape Cod spent almost half of their time at depths of 15 feet or less.

Still, the chances of being bitten by a shark are low – one in 3.7 million, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) – compared to "other animal encounters, natural disasters and ocean-side dangers." ISAF reported 69 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide for 2023, with most bites attributed to mistaken identity.

The U.S. led the world with 36 attacks, and Florida was the state with the most bites at 16.

OCEARCH, a nonprofit group researching the ocean's giants, has tagged more than 90 great white sharks in the western North Atlantic. Scientists track the sharks via satellite tags attached to their dorsal fins. When a tag breaks the surface of the water, a ping with location information is sent to trackers.

Between Feb. 1 and March 6, eight great white sharks have pinged in Florida waters, including two in the past few days.

Here's what we know about great white sharks around Florida and how to reduce the risk of being bitten.

10-foot great white shark Rose pings off Sarasota, then Cape Coral, Florida, in 2 days

Female white shark Rose, a 10-foot-5-inch, 600-pound juvenile when she was tagged by OCEARCH in 2020, pinged off the Sarasota coast on March 5 after surfacing around Cape Coral on March 3 .

Rose also pinged off Florida's Treasure Coast , near Stuart on Feb. 17 and 18, and Boynton Beach Feb. 19 . The shark's tracker  shows it has spent winters around Florida since 2021.

Rose previously ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in 2022 and 2023 and in March 2022 swam as far as the Panhandle, near Panama City.

9-foot white shark Keji surfaces off Panama City coast in Gulf of Mexico

Keji measured 9 feet 7 inches, weighed 578 pounds and was classified a juvenile when OCEARCH scientists tagged it off Nova Scotia in 2021.

The shark's been hanging around the Sunshine State since November, pinging southeast of St. Augustine on Nov. 30, 2023, near the Florida Keys on Dec. 13, 2023, off Marco Island in 2024 on Feb. 4 and Feb. 16 and in the waters off the Panama City coast on March 4.

Colossal 1,700-pound great white shark Mahone tracked off St. Augustine Beach, Florida, on Leap Day 2024

Great white shark Mahone, a mature adult male, measured an eye-popping 13 feet, 7 inches long and weighed 1,701 pounds when it was tagged off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in October 2020.

Mahone pinged off St. Augustine Beach on Leap Day – Feb. 29. Its previous trip to Florida was as far south as the Canaveral National Seashore in March 2022.

Mahone is the largest white shark OCEARCH has tagged in Canadian waters.

Another huge white shark pinged along Florida's east coast on Leap Day 2024.

Massive 13-foot white shark Bob surfaces near Palm Coast, Florida, on Feb. 29 or Leap Day 2024

OCEARCH tagged 13-foot 4-inch, 1,308-pound great white shark Bob in Nova Scotia in 2021.

Bob pinged off Palm Coast on  Leap Day after previously being tracked in Jacksonville waters on Jan. 31.

The shark has wintered in Florida before, swimming as far south as St. Augustine in November 2021 and Flagler Beach in 2022.

3 great white sharks ping around Florida Keys in February 2024, including 1,600-pound male

A 12-foot, 3-inch, 1,644-pound white shark named Scot pinged in the Florida Keys on Feb. 10 and Feb. 28. Scot's previous Florida trips took him into the Gulf near Sarasota in March of 2022, but it hung out around the Keys April through June 2023.

Scot was tagged by OCEARCH scientists off Nova Scotia in September 2021.

Penny , a 10-foot 3-inch, 522-pound female white shark was tagged in April 2023 off North Carolina. Its latest ping was Feb. 8 near Scot's location in the Keys. The shark previously pinged in the Gulf of Mexico, near Marco Island on Jan. 6 and Jan. 20 and Cape Coral on Jan. 15 .

An 8-foot, 8-inch juvenile white shark named Jekyll west of the Keys on Feb. 15. Jekyll also pinged off Jacksonville Feb. 4 and near Jupiter Island on Feb. 7

Jekyll surprised scientists when they discovered the shark traveled for 4,000 miles alongside a 9-foot white shark named Simon . White sharks were previously thought to prefer only solitude.

But they may have parted ways. Their trackers showed them long distances apart in January and early February.

Simon the shark surfaces in Gulf of Mexico, around Southwest Florida

Jekyll's "buddy" Simon , a 9-foot, 6-inch juvenile white shark, was tagged by OCEARCH in December 2022 off the Georgia coast.

Simon pinged off Vero Beach on Jan. 17, near Stuart Jan. 20 and on Feb. 4. far off Marco Island .

How to reduce your risk of a shark attack

While the chances are slim, shark bites and attacks can happen. There are things you can do to reduce the risk:

  • Don't go into the water alone.
  • Don't go too far from shore. Being far away from the shore means it could take too long for emergency assistance to reach you.
  • Avoid swimming at dawn or at dusk. Sharks are most active at those times and the risk of a shark mistaking you for other prey increases when the light is low.
  • Don't go into the water where people are fishing.
  • Be cautious in areas between sandbars and near dropoffs.
  • Don't wear high-contrast clothing. Sharks see contrast very well.
  • Take off shiny jewelry. It can shimmer and look like fish that sharks prey upon.
  • Try not to splash. Sharks may mistake the noise for a struggling fish.
  • Don't go into the water if sharks are known to be present and get out if sharks are seen.
  • If you are bleeding, stay out of the water.

The presence of dolphins means there are no sharks: Fact or myth?

A dolphin's presence does not mean there are no sharks nearby. Both eat the same food items, meaning both can be present.

"If anything, it's the opposite," Stephen Kajiura, a shark expert at Florida Atlantic University, told Live Science , "If you see dolphins, more often than not, there might be sharks in that same area."

Florida shark attacks by county

The U.S. led the world with 36 unprovoked shark attacks in 2023. Florida had most bites at 16, with Volusia County leading the way.

  • Volusia County:  8
  • Brevard County : 2
  • St. Lucie County : 2
  • Miami-Dade County: 1
  • Palm Beach County : 1
  • Escambia County : 1
  • Pinellas County: 1

Support local journalism by  subscribing to a Florida news organization .

Premium Content

Single orca seen killing great white shark for first time ever

A South African killer whale already famous for surgically extracting shark livers has a new trick up its sleeve—but it could harm shark populations.

An orca's Dorsell fin is bent it's body stands out in the clear blue waters.

An orca already famous for surgically extracting shark livers has a new trick up its sleeve: Killing one of nature’s most deadly predators all by himself.  

It’s the first time scientists have documented an orca taking down a great white shark solo. Starboard typically hunts alongside his relative, Port , near Cape Town, South Africa.

A great white sharks body is on the beach in sand in Mossel Bay.

The new footage, taken in June 2023 in Mossel Bay, shows Starboard killing a juvenile, eight-foot-long great white shark and removing its liver—all in under two minutes. The orca then parades past the videographer's boat with the bloody liver in its mouth.  

Orcas are known for working together to hunt even the largest prey , making Starboard’s behavior a marked departure, says Alison Towner , a shark expert at Rhodes University who led a new study in the journal African Journal of Marine Science .  

"Starboard's predation strategy here really surprised us," says Towner. "Previously, we observed him hunting near others, noting teamwork in securing white sharks and accessing their livers." (See 13 of Nat Geo’s favorite photos of orcas.)

Named for their bent dorsal fins—Port's bends left and Starboard's bends right—the duo, likely brothers, have dispatched sevengill and great white   sharks in the area since 2015 with a special technique: Tearing the fish’s pectoral girdle and carefully removing the calorie-rich liver, leaving the rest of the carcass intact.  

During the recent incident, Port was spotted nearby but kept his distance. Does this mean the siblings are learning to work alone?

It’s hard to say, there’s no doubt "Starboard's technique showcases the killer whale's power and experience," says Towner.

Solo sensation

Orcas, which live worldwide, are notably flexible and creative in their strategies to take down diverse prey, including sharks, fish, and marine mammals, Robert Pitman , a marine ecologist at Oregon State University, says by email.

For instance, to subdue larger prey, such as whales, some orcas may hunt in wolf-like packs.

Pack hunting has earned orcas plenty of attention in recent years. One Antarctic population engages in wave washing, during which the predators work together to make waves that push prey animals off ice floes . In Russia in 2017, orcas teamed up to take down a bowhead whale . And in Australia in recent years, scientists have witnessed groups of at least 12 orcas killing blue whales, the largest animal on the planet.

But orcas do hunt alone, too. Orcas off North America’s western coast “work mostly alone, but they stay together in a group for many other reasons and also often share the prey, the salmon, when one individual has caught one," says Hanne Strager, biologist and author of The Killer Whale Journals: Our Love and Fear of Orcas .  

But solo hunting of larger species poses greater risks. "Single killer whales are rare, and probably because cooperative hunting allows them to hunt more efficiently and to take a much broader size-range of prey," says Pitman. They’ll also work alone if they suspect the animal is vulnerable, such as being sick or young, as the great white was.   (See how orcas work together to whip up a meal.)

Regarding Starboard's remarkable achievement, "I'm not surprised, to be honest," says Simon Elwen , a killer whale researcher and director of the Cape Town-based nonprofit Sea Search.  

Since male killer whales are often about 13,000 pounds and the great white was about 220 pounds, “it's still a pretty one-sided fight," Elwen says.

Two Orcas from top view swimming together in teal blue water.

Bad news for sharks

But Starboard's new trick may have negative consequences for the region's sharks : Sevengill and great white sharks have largely abandoned South Africa’s southwestern coast in recent years.

After Starboard's June 2023 kill, Towner says, great white sharks left the area for about four months, then returned in smaller numbers. She's seen similar behavior after previous orca attacks.  

Unregulated overfishing poses a much greater threat to shark populations than Port and Starboard, Towner acknowledges, but orcas have added pressure to fish species already in trouble.

The absence of sevengills and great whites, apex predators, may have a ripple effect throughout coastal South Africa, she adds. For instance, it’s possible prey species, such as seals and fish, may increase in number. Other shark species, such as the copper shark, are already moving in to occupy the top spot, according to her research. (Read how reef sharks are in major decline worldwide.)

The orca team's "significant impact [on shark populations] shouldn't be overlooked.”

Meanwhile, Towner continues to be fascinated by the brothers and their confidence, such as Starboard’s liver-waving “victory lap.”  

"Why not be a little dramatic and enjoy your kill when you are this efficient as a predator, right?"  

Related Topics

  • ORCA (KILLER WHALE)
  • GREAT WHITE SHARK
  • ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

You May Also Like

2 great white sharks travel together

Why are these orcas killing sharks and removing their livers?

2 great white sharks travel together

Menopause is very rare among animals. Here’s why orcas go through it.

2 great white sharks travel together

This might be the first newborn great white shark ever recorded

2 great white sharks travel together

Orcas are killing porpoises—but not eating them. Why?

2 great white sharks travel together

Cape Cod may have the highest density of great white sharks in the world

  • Environment

History & Culture

  • History Magazine
  • History & Culture
  • Race in America
  • Photography
  • Mind, Body, Wonder
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your US State Privacy Rights
  • Children's Online Privacy Policy
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • About Nielsen Measurement
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Nat Geo Home
  • Attend a Live Event
  • Book a Trip
  • Inspire Your Kids
  • Shop Nat Geo
  • Visit the D.C. Museum
  • Learn About Our Impact
  • Support Our Mission
  • Advertise With Us
  • Customer Service
  • Renew Subscription
  • Manage Your Subscription
  • Work at Nat Geo
  • Sign Up for Our Newsletters
  • Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

The 4m great white shark that washed up on to a beach near Kingscliff beach on the NSW Tweed Coast

‘Haven’t seen anything like it’: shock as great white shark washes up on NSW beach

Four-metre shark euthanised after becoming beached on shore at Kingscliff on Tweed Coast

  • Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
  • Get our morning and afternoon news emails , free app or daily news podcast

A great white shark washed up on to a beach on the New South Wales north coast, shocking locals and attracting a crowd of beachgoers.

The 4m shark was seen swimming close to shore near Kingscliff beach on the Tweed Coast on Monday morning, with lifeguards tracking its progress until it was beached.

The female shark had been thrashing along the shore before washing up on the beach, with authorities attending soon after.

A veterinary team from Sea World on the Gold Coast went to the scene and found the shark struggling.

The shark was euthanised on the beach, and a bulldozer was brought in to safely move it off the sand.

“Sadly, the shark was in a poor condition after beaching and the Sea World veterinary team administered medications to make the shark comfortable while it was humanely euthanised,” a Sea World spokesperson said.

“The shark appeared to have underlying health issues, with the thrashing behaviour seen in the shallows prior to the beaching not typical for the species.”

The shark in the Kingscliff shallows, attracting onlookers, at it became beached

There were “no unusual marks on the shark”, but the NSW Department of Fisheries would conduct a necropsy to try to identify a cause for the beaching, the spokesperson said.

While sharks have been spotted in the waters around Kingscliff beach, it was highly unusual to see one on the beach.

after newsletter promotion

The general manager at Cudgen Headland surf life saving club, Greg Swift, said he had never seen anything like it in his life.

“I noticed the shark, which was quite large, rolling around the surf directly in front of the club. It brought a great deal of commotion as it was in shallow water and you could see its fins sticking up,” he said.

“I haven’t seen anything like it in my 35 years at the club, and certainly nothing like this has happened in living memory. It was a shock.”

Swift said between 60 and 70 people surrounded the shark as it was beached, with many people stopping on their morning walks.

“It was in the middle of the beach, so lots of people stopped to watch and help if they could,” he said.

“It’s a majestic creature, it was very sad to see it that way.”

Local mortgage broker Suzy Martin saw the shark as she was having her morning coffee with her husband, and could barely believe her eyes.

“We thought it was dolphins at first, but as it got closer, we saw it was a shark. Our first reaction was honestly fear, but it became clear it wasn’t doing too well. It was thrashing about quite aggressively,” she said.

“It was a bit surreal to be honest. It was massive, and it was shocking to see it that way.”

The shark’s remains were taken to Coffs Harbour for the necropsy.

  • New South Wales
  • Marine life

Most viewed

Newsweek

Great White Sharks Arrive in Florida in Time for Spring Break

Great white sharks appear to be arriving in the waters around Florida just in time for spring break.

Two of the sharks were tracked in the water off the Florida panhandle on March 5, according ocean research organization OCEARCH, which follows the elusive species to learn more about them.

One shark, named Keji, was tracked in the state's northwestern waters on Tuesday and it has been hanging around since the weekend. It was tagged by OCEARCH in 2021 and measures 9 feet 7 inches, weighing 578 pounds.

Another great white, named Rose, was in a similar area on March 5. She was first tagged in 2020, and when measured reached 10 feet 5 inches and weighed 600 pounds.

Other white sharks have been tracked in Florida in recent weeks. Scot, a giant shark measuring 12.3 feet and weighing a huge 1,644 pounds, was tracked swimming around the Florida Keys on February 28.

Bob, another large shark measuring 13 feet and 4 inches, and weighing in at 1,308 pounds, was tracked just off the coast of Palm Coast on February 29.

OCEARCH trackers only "ping" when the shark gets close to the surface of the water, meaning these sharks could still be in the area.

This population of great white sharks migrates north to Canada for the summer months, before heading back down the East Coast towards Florida for the winter.

Great whites are a solitary species and don't travel in groups, but due to their migration patterns, it's not uncommon for many to be in the same place at once.

Although spring break is taking place, and these sharks are in the water around the state, they pose very little danger to humans.

While Florida does see the highest amount of shark attacks in the U.S, according to the Shark Attack File, incidents remain relatively rare. The giant fish are rarely seen in the water at the same time as humans.

However, the sharks are known for being aggressive and are part of the "big three," alongside tiger and bull sharks. These three sharks are the species most known for attacking humans.

Attacks are usually a case of mistaken identity, as the sharks don't hunt humans.

Although great white sharks widely feared by humans, scientists still know very little about the species. This is why OCEARCH tags and tracks them, seeking to monitor where they go and why.

Do you have an animal or nature story to share with Newsweek ? Do you have a question about sharks? Let us know via [email protected].

Related Articles

  • Most of North America's Lizards Species Now 'At Risk'
  • Psychologist Reveals 'Simple' New Way to Reduce Anxiety
  • Death Valley's Lake Is Vanishing Again

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial

A stock photo shows a great white shark in the water. A few have been tracked in Florida waters just in time for spring break.

IMAGES

  1. Not often you see two Great White Sharks swimming together.

    2 great white sharks travel together

  2. Over 15 Individual Great Whites in One Day!

    2 great white sharks travel together

  3. 2 great white sharks ping along South Carolina coast

    2 great white sharks travel together

  4. 2 great white sharks spotted near coast of Capistrano Beach in Dana

    2 great white sharks travel together

  5. 2 great white sharks swimming off South Florida coast

    2 great white sharks travel together

  6. Two Sharks Swimming Together Stock Photo

    2 great white sharks travel together

COMMENTS

  1. These two great white sharks are exploring the oceans together

    Great white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias) are usually solitary animals and travel vast distances alone. So the pair's 4,000-mile (6,400 kilometers) swim together has left scientists puzzled ...

  2. Meet Simon and Jekyll, two great white sharks on a 4,000-mile journey

    Two juvenile great whites tagged in this way, Simon and Jekyll, recently became famous thanks to a social media post that pointed out the pair had been traveling together for 4,000 miles up the ...

  3. Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks seen traveling the Atlantic in

    Traveling long distances without a companion can get lonely − and apparently that goes even for solitary creatures like great white sharks. Scientists at the nonprofit research organization ...

  4. Two great white sharks, typically solitary, swam 4,000 miles together

    August 15, 2023 at 11:55 p.m. EDT. Jekyll is one of the great white sharks that OCEARCH scientists have tracked. (Chris Ross/OCEARCH) 4 min. After scientists placed tracking devices on two great ...

  5. Unusual companionship between pair of great white sharks baffles

    A pair of great white sharks have seemingly become travel companions — swimming some 4,000 miles up from the Georgia coast to Nova Scotia together — in what one aquatic expert described as ...

  6. How Two Great White Shark 'Buddies' Could Change Perceptions of the

    A pair of great white sharks named Simon and Jekyll have been swimming together for more than 4,000 miles in recent months ... Another paper recorded white sharks spending time together near ...

  7. Researchers are shocked to find 2 great white sharks have become

    Researchers were shocked to discover that two great white sharks — typically solitary creatures — had seemingly become friends and had traveled thousands of miles together. Scientists at Ocearch, a nonprofit research organization, first tagged Simon and Jekyll with location trackers in December off the coast of Georgia, according to the ...

  8. White Sharks May Have 'Buddies,' Researchers Say

    Scientists have discovered two white sharks that appear to be travel companions, swimming over 4,000 miles together since they were fitted with satellite tags in December.

  9. 2 great white sharks travelling together, shocking researchers

    Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks travelling together shock researchers Chief scientist says the development is 'potentially groundbreaking,' as the apex predators have long been thought to ...

  10. 2 Great White Sharks Are Best Buds

    ERROR LOADING. The vast ocean is a lot less lonely with a buddy. Scientists have discovered two great white sharks, known as Simon and Jekyll, who have been traveling together "in tandem" up the coast of North America for more than 4,000 miles. "This is potentially groundbreaking," Bob Hueter, chief scientist at marine research ...

  11. Great White Sharks Traveled Together Over 4,000 Miles

    As the months progressed, researchers noticed something extraordinary about them. They were moving in tandem—traveling side-by-side for over 4,000 miles up the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of St ...

  12. These sharks are BFFs Two White Sharks, Simon & Jekyll, Traveling

    Dive into the extraordinary lives of sharks with @OCEARCHsharktracker who have discovered two white sharks who have an unlikely friendship. In a realm where...

  13. Not so solitary predators? Great white shark duo appear to be

    As It Happens 6:51 Great white shark duo in Canada appear to be travelling together — much to scientists' surprise. Jekyll and Simon keep showing up in all the same places — which is weird ...

  14. Two great white sharks have traveled a very similar 4,000-mile path up

    The Meg was not like a gigantic great white shark, study finds The latest pings for the great white sharks have shown them way up north, deep in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canadian waters.

  15. 2 Great White Sharks Are Best Buds

    Scientists have discovered two great white sharks, known as Simon and Jekyll, who have been traveling together "in tandem" up the coast of North America for more than 4,000 miles.

  16. Sharks Can Have Best Friends?! 2 Great Whites Display Incredibly ...

    In a groundbreaking finding, scientists have observed two great white sharks, Simon and Jekyll, traveling together for over 4,000 miles along the North American coast. This unusual companionship ...

  17. These sharks are BFFs Two White Sharks, Simon & Jekyll, Traveling

    Meet Simon and Jekyll, the dynamic duo challenging everything we thought we knew about these solitary creatures. OCEARCH has tagged both of these apex predators and have noticed they've moved together up the Atlantic coast for over 4,000 miles! They are currently looking at blood samples to see if this pair of sharks are actually related!

  18. Meet Simon and Jekyll, two great white sharks on a 4,000-mile journey

    Jekyll the shark is released shortly after being tagged for tracking. The animal has been traveling with another great white for thousands of miles—and scientists want to know why. PHOTOGRAPH BY OCEARCH/CHRIS ROSS Scientists explain what's really going on with two white sharks traveling along the Atlantic coast. BY ME

  19. White shark's 2,000-mile journey from South Carolina to Gulf of Mexico

    A great white shark made history last month when she traveled over 2,000 miles from South Carolina to Mexico. According to Outcast Sport Fishing's owner, Capt. Chip Michalove, LeeBeth the shark is ...

  20. A Pair of Great White Sharks Traveling Together Is Confusing ...

    Two great white sharks are confusing experts by sticking together. Usually solitary creatures, these two males have been tagged and recorded migrating as a pair.

  21. Great White Sharks Sometimes Travel in Pairs, So Look Out

    Disaster films are a dime a dozen and human vs. animal stories are a centuries-long tradition, but in 2013 the two genres came together for a story the likes of which had never been seen. Iconic SYFY original film Sharknado starts with a megastorm that pushes the Pacific into downtown L.A. Then a waterspout (basically a tornado that forms over water) picks up a group of white sharks all ...

  22. 2 great white sharks tagged by OCEARCH tracked off Florida, near ...

    Two toothy visitors were tracked to the waters off the Southwest Florida coast over the weekend.. Keji, a 9-foot 7-inch great white shark, pinged far off Marco Island Friday at 1:59 p.m.On Sunday ...

  23. 2 great white sharks, including massive 1,300-pound male, ping off

    Two great white sharks, including a massive 13-foot, 1,300-pound specimen named Bob, were tracked off Jacksonville's coast in the past week. Bob was outfitted with a satellite tag by research ...

  24. Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks traveling together shock

    Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks traveling together shock researchers. usatoday. Such a great story about two shark buddies! comment sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment 01101110-01100001 • Additional comment actions. love this! maybe they're evolving to be able to take on orcas ...

  25. Great white sharks may have best friends, OCEARCH data shows

    Two sharks have been traveling together 4,000 miles, OCEARCH says. National Do great white sharks have best friends? ... It has long been believed great white sharks aren't friendly, even to ...

  26. Sharks in Florida: Recent great white shark 'visits' and safety tips

    Colossal 1,700-pound great white shark tracked near St. Augustine Beach, Florida on Leap Day 1,300-pound great white shark Bob pinged off Florida, near Palm Coast on Feb. 29 OCEARCH catches ...

  27. Single orca seen killing great white shark for first time ever

    Named for their bent dorsal fins—Port's bends left and Starboard's bends right—the duo, likely brothers, have dispatched sevengill and great white sharks in the area since 2015 with a special ...

  28. Great white shark's journey takes her from South Carolina to the Gulf

    S AN ANTONIO - A great white shark named LeeBeth is making history after being spotted just a couple hundred yards off the shore of South Padre Island. LeeBeth was tagged for research back in ...

  29. 'Haven't seen anything like it': shock as great white shark washes up

    A great white shark washed up on to a beach on the New South Wales north coast, shocking locals and attracting a crowd of beachgoers.. The 4m shark was seen swimming close to shore near Kingscliff ...

  30. Great White Sharks Arrive in Florida in Time for Spring Break

    Another great white, named Rose, was in a similar area on March 5. She was first tagged in 2020, and when measured reached 10 feet 5 inches and weighed 600 pounds. Other white sharks have been ...