It’s pretty common knowledge that we swim among sharks, right? In case you somehow missed all the hullabaloo about Mary Lee last summer (btw, she’s the great white that enjoys summering in the Hamptons), OCEARCH, the folks with a global shark tracker, have made some pretty epic discoveries. It turns out that after swimming up and down the East Coast, she returned to Long Island to give birth. You know what this means? Our waters are a confirmed nursery for baby great white sharks, and this is a big deal. Cue the intimidating Jaws music...
Actually, this is a pretty awesome discovery, and Chris Fischer of OCEARCH said, "We have just been totally overwhelmed by the abundance here and the volume of sharks we're seeing." The scientists managed to collect data and tag a few of the shark pups. Hudson, OCEARCH’s first male, clocked in at an impressive 67 pounds and 5 feet in length. Montauk, we are obviously smitten with her name, is 4 feet in length and 50 pounds. Both sharks are thriving and have active Twitter accounts, @SharkMontauk and @Shark_Hudson.
Water quality up here must be improving, because Fisher commented that white sharks are picky about where they have their pups and most places just don’t fit the bill. He told various news organizations, "You are living in a very special place, critical habitat for the entire abundance of the north Atlantic." It's always Shark Week in the Hamptons, and we wish the new shark pups many happy summers on the East End!
- OCEARH finds great white nursery off Long Island [ABC News 7]
- OCEARCH [official site]
- Shaaaaaaaaaark! [Curbed Hamptons]