Advertisement

Unama’ki, a 2,000 pound great white shark, is Florida’s newest snowbird

Unama’ki was in Nova Scotia in September, scientists say. Now she’s hanging out in Key Largo.
 
A Facebook photo shows Unama’ki, the second largest great white shark tagged in the North Atlantic by the nonprofit shark research group, Ocearch.
A Facebook photo shows Unama’ki, the second largest great white shark tagged in the North Atlantic by the nonprofit shark research group, Ocearch. [ Ocearch ]
Published Nov. 6, 2020

Unama’ki, a 15-foot, 2,000-pound female great white shark is spending some time off the Florida Keys.

Tagged with an electronic tracking device in September 2019 off Nova Scotia, Canada, scientists with the nonprofit Ocearch shark research group said she “pinged” off Key Largo at 5:46 a.m. Thursday morning.

Unama’ki, which means “Land of the fog” in Mi’kmaq, the indigenous people of Nova Scotia, pinged off Vero Beach Sunday and was northeast of the Bahamas out in the Atlantic Ocean late last week.

Related: Track Unama’ki using the Ocearch Global Shark Tracker ‬

She’s come a long way since the summer when she pinged off Nova Scotia in early August, according to the Ocearch tracking website.

Ocearch said in a Facebook post in October that Unam’aki was making a similar journey as two other large female great whites the group was tracking and the hope was she was pregnant and could lead scientists to where she gives birth.

Unama’ki is one of the largest sharks Ocearch has tagged in the North Atlantic. The largest was a 16-foot female tagged in 2012.