It's not every day you hear about great white sharks near Southwest Florida, but this month, two of these feared marine predators have been spotted swimming closer to the sunshine state as they migrate to warmer waters.
Keji and Crystal are two great white sharks being tracked by OCEARCH, a global nonprofit that tags and studies marine life. Keji, a 9-foot, 7-inch shark weighing 578 pounds recently pinged about 200 miles off the coast of Cape Coral — roughly the same distance as driving to Gainsville!
Crystal, a 10-foot-long female shark weighing 460 pounds, was tracked farther north, just over a week ago.
Darrell Gregorio, a fishing captain with On Point Charters, is used to catching sharks inshore, all the time. He mainly hooks hammerheads and bull sharks but has never seen a great white on a trip.
"I think it's kind of neat," said Gregorio. "You don't see a lot of those things here in the Gulf. we see you see more than deeper waters in the Atlantic. maybe more so down on the keys."
So why are these ocean giants hanging out in the Gulf? NBC2 called an expert on sharks to find out.
"This is a time of the year when many marine mammals give birth to the calves and the calves are, you know, don't swim as well as the adults," said John Carlson, Research Fish Biologist with NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center. "They may represent a more easy, optimal prey for these larger white sharks. This may be one of the reasons why we see them in the Gulf of Mexico during this time of the year is they're taking advantage of the of the, marine mammals that are giving birth."
While Carlson agrees it's exciting, he says it's not rare to see great whites closer to Florida this time of year.
But before you cancel your next beach day, don't worry. At 200 miles away, these great whites might be closer than usual, but they're still giving Southwest Florida plenty of space.
Carlson says you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than having a shark bite you at the beach.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a few simple precautions can further reduce the risk; like always swimming in groups or close to shore at the beach, and avoiding wearing shiny jewelry and swimming at dawn or dusk.