2 great white sharks pinged off Sarasota coast

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SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)— Two great white sharks have made their way to the Sunshine State to seek warmer waters.

“Crystal” was pinged far off of Sarasota on Jan. 3 at 7:35 p.m. near the West Florida Escarpment.

The great white shark is a 10-foot-long female and weighs 460 pounds at tagging, according to OCEARCH.

She was tagged on Mar. 14, 2022, at Lookout Shoals (outer), North Carolina as a juvenile.

Crystal was named after North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, which is where they were able to tag her, according to OCEARCH.

During Expedition Carolinas 2022, Crystal was OCEARCH’s first and only white shark studied.

“Keji” another great white shark was pinged in the Gulf of Mexico near the West Florida Escarpment.

Keji is a 9-foot, 7-inch great white shark and weighed 578 pounds at tagging, according to OCEARCH.

He was last pinged on Jan. 4, at 7:54 a.m. far off Cape Coral.

Keji was the 9th shark tagged on Expedition Nova Scotia 2021 and was their 82nd shark studied.

His name is after the Kejimkujik National Park, which is located in the region where he was tagged, OCEARCH said.

According to NOAA Ocean Exploration, the West Florida Escarpment is between 155 and 215 miles off the west coast of Florida and it goes from about 330 feet deep to around 9,840 feet deep.

Southeast

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