Great white shark weighing 1,000lbs spotted by stunned scientists

Great white shark weighing 1,000lbs spotted by stunned scientists
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Aden-Jay Wood

By Aden-Jay Wood


Published: 09/05/2022

- 19:26

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:31

The shark was nicknamed “ironbound” by researchers when it was first caught and tagged in 2019

A group of scientists were left shocked after spotting a huge great white shark weighing 1,000lbs.

The shark was nicknamed “ironbound” by researchers when it was first caught and tagged in 2019.


And Ironbound, who measures 3.7 metres in length, has now been found seeking rich fishing grounds off the coast of New Jersey, US.

A huge Great White shark has been spotted off the coast of New Jersey
A huge Great White shark has been spotted off the coast of New Jersey
WikiCommons

Speaking about the discovery, Bob Hueter, chief scientist at the nonprofit Ocearch told Live Science: "Mating season is over, we think, and Ironbound is on his way north to get into some good feeding ground and bulk up again for the next year.”

As part of their research, Ocearch tag the sharks using a SPOT tag in a bid to better understand their migration patterns.

The tag is designed to fall off after several years.

The device doesn’t give scientists an exact location of the shark, but will give them a good idea about where they have travelled from and where they are heading.

Marine Biologist George Burgess previously told Live Science: "That error bar can be the difference between one side of Long Island and the other.”

Despite his size, Ironboard is of normal size to Ocearch researchers who claim to have tagged sharks as long as five meters and as heavy as 4,000lbs.

According to research data, Ironboard has travelled an estimated 13,000 miles since it was first tagged.

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