Well, thank goodness we're not really swimming in the ocean just yet.  Meet Ironbound, one of the world's largest great white sharks at over 12 feet long and 1,000 pounds. Whoa.

He's heading toward the cooler Canadian waters of Nova Scotia according to OCEARCH, and to get there, his path has taken him along the eastern seaboard, pinging in North Carolina and then New Jersey three days later.

According to NBC New York, this spectacular creature is named after West Ironbound Island near Lunenburg in Nova Scotia, Canada.

That's where he was tagged two-and-a-half years ago by the marine research group OCEARCH.

OCEARCH via Facebook
OCEARCH via Facebook
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He pings whenever his dorsal fin surfaces above the water, and that sends info to OCEARCH.

OCEARCH via Facebook
OCEARCH via Facebook
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Chief Scientist Bob Hueter with OCEARCH says this northern migration is typical for this time of year.

They’re moving north to the very rich feeding grounds off of Canada and the northeastern US.  Mating season is over, we think, and Ironbound is on his way north to get into some good feeding ground and bulk up again for the next year.  Just like on land, that is an important role in terms of keeping the lower parts of the food web healthy and balanced.  Ironbound will likely spend most of his summer and early fall in those northern waters around Nova Scotia before turning around and returning to Florida.

Here's the video from when they first tagged Ironbound in October 2019.

OCEARCH says even though shark populations have fallen sharply over the last four decades, our great white shark populations are improving along the east coast of the United States.

By the way, the biggest great white ever recorded is named Deep Blue, weighing in at 5,000 pounds and over 20 feet long.  She's 50 years old and was last seen in Hawaii.  Deep Blue has also been featured on the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.

If you want to learn more about OCEARCH and even track their tagged great whites like Ironbound, click here.  It's really cool.

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