In September 2019 a massive 2000 pound female shark named Unama’ki was tagged with a monitoring device by OCEARCH, a marine research non-profit organization that tracks the behaviors of sharks.
This 15-foot, 5-inch shark is the second largest shark the research team has ever tagged. She was first tagged in the waters off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada and since then has traveled more than 5,000 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
Recently though, on April 20th, 2020, she has been spotted swimming east, directly into the open ocean. The research team is not sure why she is headed that way but they speculate that it may be because she could be pregnant.
“Very interesting! Take a look at @UnamakiShark’s track. She is veering off into the open ocean. Could she be going out there to gestate? We’ve only really tracked large females making these pelagic journeys. We’ll be watching her closely,” OCEARCH wrote in a tweet.
The research team is very excited and monitoring her closely because they’re hoping she’ll end up showing them a brand-new great white shark nursery. The scientist of the non-profit said having this information will be extremely valuable.