Swan Quarter, NC (AP) A juvenile great white shark tagged by a research group surfaced Saturday inside Pamlico Sound west of the Outer Banks.
A satellite ping sent to Ocearch.org on Saturday located Bruin just off Swan Quarter on the Hyde County mainland, The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reports .
On Tuesday, the shark that was 5-foot, 5-inches long and weighed 101 pounds when it was tagged in August off Montauk, N.Y., sent a ping from just inside the sound around Avon. But because the satellite pings have a variance of about 20 miles, it was likely that the shark was still in the ocean, just off the beach.
Even with the variance, the latest ping means Bruin more than likely is inside the sound, probably feeding, and will stay there for days to come.
It’s not at all unusual for a shark to make its way into the sound, as it’s likely been following around schools of fish, possibly bluefish or menhaden. A couple of years ago, Ocearch’s marquee shark – Mary Lee – pinged several times from inside the sound.
The newspaper reports coastal waters of Virginia and North Carolina in the near future will be visited by more tagged sharks as they migrate to their breeding ground to the south.
