Huge 11ft great white shark spotted only three miles from popular US beach
AN ELEVEN-foot great white shark was spotted only three miles from a famous US beach on Sunday.
The shark, named Freya by Sea World, was seen on the outer banks of Pea Island in North Carolina on Father's Day.
Ocearch, a research nonprofit, has been tracking this great white shark since March 25, 2021.
Freya, who weighs 883 pounds, triggered the nonprofit's shark tracker system when she came close to the shore.
reported that her name means "Nobel Woman" and is a "homage to the noble women researchers on an expedition to the Carolinas "who are working to uncover crucial shark insights related to their species' conservation."
Even though Freya came close to the shore, it was unlikely that she would interact with a human.
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Newsweek reported only 47 shark attacks across the US in 2021. From those attacks, one death was reported.
Research has shown that sharks spend most of their time in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Maine during summer and fall.
They can be seen around the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South and North Carolina during the winter.
Three other sharks, Ironbound, Ulysses, and Tancook, have also been seen around the North Carolina coast recently.
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Ocearch has been tracking the sharks to learn more about their behavior.
Newsweek reported that the organization goes through an extensive process to get tags compatible with their tracking system onto a shark.
Employees lift the shark out of the water and onto a hydraulic platform. They make sure to have a constant flow of seawater running over their gills while the tags are being attached.
Workers then take samples from the animal needed for data and return the animal back to the water.
The data Ocearch collects from this project is passed off to scientists.
Newsweek reported that scientists believe that sharks use the North Carolina coast for their mating season.
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Baby sharks have been spotted around that area. The potential nursey is protected and is a safe haven for younger sharks before they venture off into deeper waters.
Even with this information, scientists don't know much about the great white sharks' mating habits.