GREAT WHITE SHARK INVASION? OF COURSE NOT
You may have seen images of an army of almost 100 Great White sharks gathering on the East Coast of the US on a tracker app and social media getting rather excited about it.
It's like ringing the dinner bell for Christ's sake. No, it really isn't.
Shark invasion you cry, nope! It's simple math really.
Ocearch tag lots of sharks, lots of shark that are tagged ping up on the app. Tagged or not tagged they'd still be there, these ones just register on the app.
In the New York Post a spokesperson for Ocearch said: “We are currently studying the Northwest Atlantic White Shark, the white sharks that live off the Eastern United States and Canada.
"This is why we have so many recently tagged sharks in this area. We have tagged 83 white sharks in the NW Atlantic.”
It's not an uncommon or unnatural occurence, as The Daily Jaws resident shark scientist Kristian Parton explained.
“Sharks on the east coast of the US is no surprise. This coastline is home to many species of shark, including the Great White. The image doing the rounds on social media, with the slightly large “ping” icons makes it seem like lots of sharks are congregating here. In reality, there are likely significantly more sharks within that area of coastline than the image depicts, and this is a completely normal occurrence.”
Words by Dean Newman
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