She isn't quite an adult, but at 3.8m long and weighing in at just under 1700 pounds (770kg), scientists were eager to tag Miss Costa to follow her feeding and living habits.
They got their chance
when the white shark first appeared in late September off the coast of
Nantucket in Massachusetts. An added bonus came on Monday when her
GPS-like tracking device showed her swimming near the surface just off
the coast, east of the Virginia-North Carolina state line.
While
it might surprise the average beachgoer to hear that the shark,
nicknamed Miss Costa, was spotted along Virginia's coastline, scientists
who specialise in studying sharks said it isn't all that rare.
"It's
not unusual for white sharks to come into the Carolina area close to
the coast in winter time," said Robert Hueter, who is the lead scientist
on the expedition run by Ocearch.org, a research operation on sharks.
He said Miss Costa is likely headed to her winter feeding grounds in Florida.
The
shark is one of dozens of sharks the group tracks. They are often named
for the sponsors involved (Miss Costa is named for Costa Sunglasses).
The
information scientists are able to track and glean once a shark is
tagged is important, they said, to understanding the animals and helping
to preserve their habitat.
Using a 38m boat and a special
hydraulic lift, scientists are able to get access to the sharks for a
brief time. In about 15 minutes, they take genetic samples, blood and
other samples, then attach a transmitter to the shark's dorsal fin.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=11722918
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