Great white shark Breton pings off the Treasure Coast, Ocearch tracker map shows

Gianna Montesano, Treasure Coast Newspapers
·2 min read

A 13-foot, 3-inch great white shark named Breton pinged off the Treasure Coast on July 3, according to researchers who first tagged the 1,500-pound adult male off Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia in 2020.

Breton was off South Hutchinson Island about 6 p.m. when his satellite tag indicated he surfaced off Fort Pierce. Ocearch's tracker map does not indicate distance, but he was many dozens of miles off the coast, nowhere near the shore.

The map shows him crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean and pinging off the Treasure Coast:

Breton, a 1,500 pound, 13 foot long white shark, was tagged by OCEARCH in 2020 off Nova Scotia.
Breton, a 1,500 pound, 13 foot long white shark, was tagged by OCEARCH in 2020 off Nova Scotia.

Breton has traveled 35,599 miles in 1,391 days since being tagged in September 2020. He travels up and down the Eastern Seaboard from as far south as the Treasure Coast to Philadelphia before veering northeast to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He also ventures into the Bahamas and has traveled as far south as the Turks & Caicos.

Breton has made a name for himself as an artist — sort of. His pings on Ocearch's tracker map connect to create what appears to be the outline of a shark. Its body runs along the East Coast with its head pointed toward Florida, its tail in Nova Scotia and its dorsal fin off Philadelphia.

"You can track Breton, the white shark that made this self-portrait on the Ocearch Global Shark Tracker," the research group posted on the social media platform X.

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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.

What is Ocearch?

Ocearch is a nonprofit research organization that studies great white sharks and other keystone species essential for the health of the oceans. The organization has caught and tagged 437 animals in 46 expeditions.

Other great white sharks that have pinged off the Treasure Coast include:

  • Rose: A 10-footer that pinged off Stuart in February

  • Simon: A 9-footer that pinged off Stuart and Vero Beach on Jan. 17

  • Hali: A 10-footer that pinged about 15 miles off Martin County in October 2021

  • Sabel: A nearly 12-footer that pinged about 20 miles off Vero Beach in January 2022

  • Katharine: A Florida celebrity, who has made multiple appearances off the Treasure Coast over the years.

Florida has ponied up $10 million for Ocearch to build its headquarters at Mayport, in a partnership with Jacksonville and Jacksonville University.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @gonthescene.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Ocearch great white shark Breton pings off Florida's Treasure Coast