{"id":223071,"date":"2026-04-08T07:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223071\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:10:18","slug":"female-great-white-shark-pings-near-the-florida-panhandle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223071\/","title":{"rendered":"Female great white shark pings near the Florida panhandle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new fin is on the radar\u2014Brookes\u2014pinged off the Florida Panhandle on Sunday. The juvenile great white, measuring over 8 feet long and weighing more than 450 pounds, was tracked between Mexico Beach and St. Joseph Peninsula. Video here shows when Brookes was tagged in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, in September 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FLORIDA – A juvenile great white shark<\/a>, Brookes, was spotted off the coast of the Florida<\/a> panhandle on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The newly tagged shark pinged between Mexico Beach and St. Joseph Peninsula.<\/p>\n

LARGEST MALE WHITE SHARK CONTENDER\u2019S LATEST PING OFFERS FRESH INSIGHT INTO SHARK BEHAVIOR<\/a><\/p>\n

According to OCEARCH<\/a>, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and protecting sharks, whales, sea turtles and other ocean<\/a> life, Brookes traveled more than 5,000 miles to reach the Gulf \u2014 an area where great white sharks usually frequent during the winter<\/a> months.<\/p>\n

“The Gulf plays an important role in the annual migration of these animals<\/a>, and continued research will help us better understand the environmental factors that influence where sharks travel and how they use these habitats,” OCEARCH Senior Data Scientist John Tyminski said.<\/p>\n

In a recent study released by OCEARCH, scientists discovered that the Gulf serves as a regular winter habitat for great white sharks migrating thousands of miles from Atlantic Canada<\/a> and the northeastern U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Brookes <\/p>\n

Brookes the young great white shark being tagged in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, in September 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(OCEARCH)<\/p>\n

By tracking the movements of 92 great white sharks<\/a> at all the stages of life, they found that the animals typically migrate to this region for the warm waters and abundant food.<\/p>\n

MASSIVE 1,400-POUND GREAT WHITE SHARK \u2018BRETON\u2019 PINGS NEAR UNCHARTED WATERS OFF TURKS AND CAICOS<\/a><\/p>\n

“For years we suspected white sharks were using the Gulf more than people realized,” Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader of OCEARCH, said. “This research confirms the Gulf is a regular winter habitat for this population and highlights how connected the ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean truly are.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n

Great White Sharks seasonally gather in the Gulf. \u00a0<\/p>\n

(Dave J Hogan\/Dave J Hogan\/Getty Images \/ FOX Weather)<\/p>\n

Brookes was tagged in Nova Scotia<\/a> by Tancook Islands Marine Field Station in collaboration with OCEARCH last September to help scientists understand shark migration patterns better.<\/p>\n

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER<\/a><\/p>\n

She is over 8 feet long and weighs more than 450 pounds, according to OCEARCH.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new fin is on the radar\u2014Brookes\u2014pinged off the Florida Panhandle on Sunday. The juvenile great white, measuring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1684,6104,28,30,29,14353,16190,82689,628,82688,4624],"class_list":{"0":"post-223071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-beaches","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-nature","14":"tag-ocean","15":"tag-stay22","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-us-regions","18":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}