Sharks have caused boats to crash, at least in the movies – but not web sites. Until now.
Residents of and vacationers at the Long Island Sound have been tracking the great white shark that was recently sighted – so many that the so-called shark tracker on Nova Scotia-based ocean research group OCEARCH, apparently crashed. It later came back online.
“On Monday, when OCEARCH pinged the 9-foot, 8-inch shark off the Connecticut coast, the site for the tracker also crashed, the New York Post reported. “Oops…looks like my little stunt visiting the Long Island Sound overloaded the @OCEARCH tracker!!! My bad,” a Twitter account set up in the shark’s name said. “The Tracker is running kinda slow since you many of you logged on to check out where I’m at.”
The shark, named Cabot, was spotted Monday morning off the coast of Greenwich, Connecticut, according to OCEARCH, an organization that tracks marine life including sharks, dolphins and turtles. The creature is roughly 10 feet long and weighs about 533 pounds.
“I heard sending a ping from the Long Island Sound had never been done before by a white shark … so naturally I had to visit and send one off,” researchers tweeted using the shark’s handle @GWSharkCabot. The great white was tagged by OCEARCH in Nova Scotia and is named after the explorer John Cabot, according to the organization’s website.
According to OCEARCH’s web site, research expeditions are conducted on the M/V OCEARCH, which serves as an at-sea laboratory. The vessel uses a 75,000-pound capacity hydraulic platform designed to safely lift sharks, whales, and other mature marine animals out of the ocean so that researchers can gather samples and tag the creatures in 15 minutes. “OCEARCH enables leading researchers and institutions to generate previously unattainable data on the movement, biology, and health of sharks to protect their future while enhancing public safety and education,” according to the non-profit’s Facebook page.
The news has proven to be a bummer given the coming of summer. “As the weather warms up, many beachgoers are turning their attention to the sand and surf of the approaching summer season — but beware if you are considering a trip to the Long Island Sound for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, as a great white shark is being tracked off the coast of Connecticut this week,” the web site lilive.com reported.
Only days ago, a group of great white sharks gathered about 20 miles off the coast of the Carolinas. “Some of sharks even have names: Cabot, Hal, Jane, Jefferson, Brunswick, and Luna – a 15-footer who weighs in at more than 2,000 pounds. Great whites can tip the scales at up to 4,000 pounds and grow to be 17 feet long, and their numbers on the Atlantic Coast are on the rise,” said cbsnews.com.
