Breton the great white shark draws incredible ‘self-portrait’ with GPS tracker while stalking the ocean
BRETON the great white shark has drawn an incredible "self-portrait" with a GPS tracker while stalking pray in the ocean.
Marine scientists tracking the intrepid underwater predator were left gobsmacked by the bizarre find.
The 13ft marine beast, named after Cape Breton in Canada, was fitted with a tracking device as a part of a research programme by ocean research charity OCEANRCH in Nova Scotia in September 2020.
What they found two years later left them in a state of shock and disbelief.
The creature had travelled along the US East Coast off New Jersey, Chincoteague, Virginia and Long Bay, South Carolina - sketching an outline of a shark as he swam along.
Scientists were able to track Breton's movements every time he surfaced.
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Breton created a "head" by surfacing the coast of Florida and the Carolinas.
Tracking data shows the shape of a "dorsal fin" springing up around Washington DC and New York and a "tail" around Nova Scotia, Canada.
There's even the outline of a pectoral fin, which sits on the side of a fish, when the shark made a sudden but clear triangle-shaped path into the ocean and back.
The incredible image was shared online and received some hilarious feedback.
"Apex predator-level scientist trolling," quipped one Twitter user.
"Jaws? More like Draws," joked a second.
Breton was first tagged in September 12, 2020, at Scaterie Island in Nova Scotia.
On September 21 this year, at 3.29am, he was tagged off the coast of Baie de Plaisance in Quebec.
It's not the first time this pearly white made headline.
In June, Breton was found found lurking near Florida’s Indian River lagoon system.
In May, the 1,500-pound beast who is over 13 feet long was was spotted dangerously close to the coast.
The swim back to the sunshine state is about 1,500 miles.
Several sharks have been tracked to the waters off the coast of the Carolinas in the last two years.
In April, three great whites were tracked to a similar location, including the largest male shark to be tagged by OCEARCH.
Mahone, who measures 13 feet 7 inches and weighs 1,701 pounds, was joined by two smaller great whites.
, a 12-foot, a 990-pound shark who was detected off the coast on April 6, , a juvenile 10-foot, 715-pound shark pinged on April 10.
When a tagged shark swims close enough to the surface of the water, its tracker will "ping" to notify researchers of its location.
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Much is still unknown about the great white species. Tagging the sharks helps researchers learn about migration habits, and how and where the sharks mate and raise their young.
The organization has a goal to tag 100 sharks throughout the western North Atlantic.