2 great white sharks, including massive 1,300-pound male, ping off Jacksonville, Florida

Kim Luciani, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Updated ·5 min read

Two great white sharks, including a massive 13-foot, 1,300-pound specimen named Bob, were tracked off Jacksonville's coast in the past week.

Bob was outfitted with a satellite tag by research group OCEARCH scientists in 2021 during an expedition in Nova Scotia. The tag, placed on his dorsal fin, broke the surface of the water and transmitted his location in the waters off Jacksonville to trackers at 9:25 a.m. on Jan. 31.

The large ocean predator has traveled 4,021 miles since he was tagged and has made several visits to the Sunshine State. He swam as far south as St. Augustine in November 2021 and Flagler Beach in 2022.

A smaller, 8-foot 8-inch OCEARCH-tagged white shark named Jekyll pinged near the same location at 5:34 a.m. Feb. 4.

Jekyll surprised scientists when they discovered he'd been traveling for 4,000 miles alongside a 9-foot white shark named Simon. White sharks were previously thought to prefer only their own company.

But it looks like they may have parted ways. Simon's tracker shows him pinging off Marco Island on Feb. 4. Jekyll pinged off South Carolina less than a day before Simon was tracked off Florida's Treasure Coast on Jan. 20.

Here's what to know about Bob, Jekyll, OCEARCH and white sharks in Florida:

More about white shark Bob

Bob, an adult male white shark, measured 13 feet 4 inches and weighed a whopping 1,308 pounds when he was tagged in Nova Scotia in September of 2021.

He was named for OCEARCH Chief Scientist Dr. Robert (Bob) Hueter, a pioneer in shark science for over 40 years.

"We’ll be following the journeys of both Bob the shark and Dr. Bob Hueter as they continue to help us grow in the world of science for the betterment of our sharks and our oceans," a note on Bob's OCEARCH tracker page reads.

What to know about great white shark Jekyll

In December, researchers with OCEARCH tagged two sharks named Simon and Jekyll on the southeastern coast of the U.S. who have since traveled together for thousands of miles. Pictured is Jekyll.
In December, researchers with OCEARCH tagged two sharks named Simon and Jekyll on the southeastern coast of the U.S. who have since traveled together for thousands of miles. Pictured is Jekyll.

Jekyll was considered a juvenile shark when he was tagged by OCEARCH in December 2022 near Jekyll Island, Georgia. He was 8 foot 8 inches long and weighed 395 pounds.

"Jekyll is our 87th white shark tagged in the Western North Atlantic and our 3rd during Expedition Southbound! He was named by OCEARCH’s community in honor of Jekyll Island, Georgia near where we met him," his OCEARCH tracker page notes.

Breton, shark known for 'drawing' own portrait, pings off Flagler Beach

Breton, a 13-foot 3-inch, 1,437-pound male shite shark, was swimming off Flagler Beach on Jan. 1 and off Jacksonville's coast on Dec. 21 when trackers received pings of his location.

A closer look at Breton's tracker revealed something amazing. He created a "self-portrait." His pings between September 2020 and January 2022 connect to show what appears to be the outline of a huge shark, with the tail in Nova Scotia, the body along the east coast and head pointed at Florida's east coast.

Breton, a 1,400 pound OCEARCH-tagged white shark seemingly created a self-portrait with pings of his journey received by the research group's shark tracker.
Breton, a 1,400 pound OCEARCH-tagged white shark seemingly created a self-portrait with pings of his journey received by the research group's shark tracker.

"You can track Breton, the white shark that made this self-portrait on the OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker," the research group posted on X, formerly Twitter.

White shark Gladee visits Jacksonville waters

A great white shark named Gladee visited the First Coast.

The OCEARCH-tagged shark was tracked near Palm Coast in late November and pinged off the coast of Jacksonville on Dec. 14.

Gladee was tagged by OCEARCH on Oct. 1, 2020, off Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

At that time she was considered a juvenile shark, was 8-feet 8-inches long and weighed 396 pounds.

Gladee has sought out Florida waters at least once before. She ventured past the coast of Daytona Beach in February of 2021. Pings indicate she made as far south as the waters off Florida's border with Georgia but appears to have preferred the Peach State that year.

Why are great white sharks in Florida?

White sharks swim south when the water gets too cold for them and they lack food sources up north, according to OCEARCH chief scientist Dr. Bob Hueter.

Think of them as the snowbirds of sharks.

Most of them tend to hang out away from the beaches in the continental shelf waters, Hueter said.

What is OCEARCH?

OCEARCH is a nonprofit organization researching the ocean's giants.

The group studies great white sharks and other keystone species essential for the health of the oceans.

OCEARCH recently finished up its 46th expedition, dubbed Expedition Southeast. It departed from Jacksonville on Nov. 17 and made its final docking in Morehead City, North Carolina on Dec. 15.

During the expeditions, researchers collected previously unattainable data on the animals' migrations, reproductive cycle, genetic status, diet, abundance, and more.

"If we lose the apex predator (sharks) then we lose all our fish and then there are no fish sandwiches for our grandchildren," OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer told the Courier Journal. "That's oversimplified, of course, but the idea is important because many shark species are threatened by overfishing and a demand for shark fins in Asia. Their dwindling numbers jeopardize ocean habitats."

Most shark attacks happen in Florida

There were 69 documented unprovoked shark attacks around the globe in 2023. The U.S. led the world with 36 attacks and Florida again was the state with the most bites at 16.

Florida shark attacks by county:

While the U.S. has the most attacks, South Africa has the most shark-related fatalities.

Since 1992, there have been 1,232 shark bites worldwide, according to data from floridapanhandle.com, with white sharks credited as the top biters.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: White sharks in Florida? Yep, huge 13-footer tracked off Jacksonville