13-foot shark that vanished off Florida in 2021 is rediscovered 1,000 miles away

A 13-foot-4-inch great white shark fitted with a satellite tag is proving how sneaky the species can be when it comes to their deep sea movements.

Named Bob, the shark essentially disappeared off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on Nov. 6.

Weeks passed, and then months, but there was no sign of where the 1,398-pound Bob was hiding — or if he was still alive.

Then, on Aug. 28, a surprise “ping” showed up on satellite tracking off Nantucket Island near Cape Cod, according to the nonprofit shark research agency OCEARCH.

It was Bob, and he was more than 1,000 miles north of his last known location.

Everything that happened during that 10-month journey will remain a mystery, but the track fits with research OCEARCH has gleaned from tracking other great white sharks along the East Coast.

Chief among these details is that great white sharks are picky about water temperature.

In the winter, they are known to migrate from the Northwest Atlantic to as far southwest as the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico — eating anything they meet along the way.

In the summer, they move north again to New England and the Atlantic Canada region, where tasty seals are known to gather in large numbers.

Bob may have made that trip north months ago, but he stayed below the surface. It’s only when a shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface for at least 90 seconds that they “ping” off satellites, OCEARCH says.

Why some great white sharks prefer not to breach surface is among the mysteries yet to be explained.

This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 4:33 AM with the headline "13-foot shark that vanished off Florida in 2021 is rediscovered 1,000 miles away."