A great white shark has swam its way into the Gulf of Mexico within half a day's swim from the Mississippi Coast, as well as the Louisiana coastal wetlands.
According to OCEARCH, a data-centric global non-profit organization tracking marine life around the world, a nearly 10-foot (9-7), 600-pound (578) juvenile male was last pinged off the coast of Pascagoula, Miss., on Monday evening.
Keji, which was originally tagged off Ironbound Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, has spent the past day swimming approximately 24 miles on the edge of the Mississippi River Delta. White sharks can swim 50-100 miles per day.
OCEARCH tracking data showed Keji traveled 174 miles in the past three days and nearly 12,000 miles in the last year and a half. he is the ninth shark sampled, tagged, and released on Expedition Nova Scotia 2021 and our 82nd shark of OCEARCH's Northwest Atlantic White Shark Study.
Keji is named after the Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site near the location where he was found.
OCEARCH posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the organization has only seen five of its tagged white sharks venture west of the Mississippi River Delta boundary.
The latest ping received at 9:40 p.m. on Monday showed Keji swimming back east toward the Florida Panhandle where a 10-foot (10-3), 500-pound (522) juvenile female named Penny was last seen tracking west of the Florida Keys on Saturday.
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