{"id":571052,"date":"2026-04-08T03:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571052\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T03:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:50:09","slug":"great-white-shark-spotted-off-coast-of-florida-panhandle-after-traveling-over-5k-miles-to-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/571052\/","title":{"rendered":"Great white shark spotted off coast of Florida panhandle after traveling over 5K miles to Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A juvenile <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/05\/us-news\/largest-male-white-shark-contenders-latest-ping-offers-insight-into-how-shark-behaves\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">great white shark<\/a>, Brookes, was spotted off the coast of the Florida panhandle on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The newly tagged shark pinged between Mexico Beach and St. Joseph Peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>According to OCEARCH, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and protecting sharks, whales, sea turtles and other ocean life, Brookes traveled more than 5,000 miles to reach the Gulf \u2014 an area where great white sharks usually frequent during the winter months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Gulf plays an important role in the annual migration of these animals, and continued research will help us better understand the environmental factors that influence where sharks travel and how they use these habitats,\u201d OCEARCH Senior Data Scientist John Tyminski said.<\/p>\n<p>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 and the northeastern U.S.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.50146628;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39018980\" width=\"886\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brookes-young-great-white-shark-125180467.jpg\" alt=\"Brookes, a young great white shark, being tagged in Mahone Bay.\" class=\"wp-image-39018980\"  \/>Brookes, the young great white shark, getting tagged in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, in September 2025. OCEARCH<\/p>\n<p>By tracking the movements of 92 great white sharks 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<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor years we suspected white sharks were using the Gulf more than people realized,\u201d Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader of OCEARCH, said. \u201cThis research confirms the Gulf is a regular winter habitat for this population and highlights how connected the ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean truly are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66601563;display:block\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39018983\" width=\"393\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brookes-8-10-juvenile-female-125180466.jpg\" alt=\"Map showing the migration path of a juvenile white shark named Brookes along the Florida Panhandle.\" class=\"wp-image-39018983\"  \/>The shark traveled over 5,000 miles to reach the Gulf. @OCEARCH \/ X<\/p>\n<p>Brookes was tagged in Nova Scotia by Tancook Islands Marine Field Station in collaboration with OCEARCH last September to help scientists understand shark migration patterns better.<\/p>\n<p>She is over 8 feet long and weighs more than 450 pounds, according to OCEARCH.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A juvenile great white shark, Brookes, was spotted off the coast of the Florida panhandle on Sunday. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2808,12604,18845,79,9460,194,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-571052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-great-white-sharks","10":"tag-gulf-of-mexico","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-sharks","13":"tag-us-news","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}