MIAMI — Nothing to worry about, just a big shark calling Florida home for the winter.
Specifically, it's Sable we're talking about: She's an 11.5-foot, 807-pound great white shark who was pinged late Saturday just south of Miami, according to research group OCEARCH.
Sable has had quite the journey to warmer water since early November. The tracker attached to the juvenile shark shows she hung around Nova Scotia, Canada, before traveling south.
On Dec. 10, she was just north of Massachusetts' Cape Cod. "Sable begins her journey south!" OCEARCH said on Facebook. Sable spent Christmas and New Year's off the coast of North Carolina and crossed the Georgia/Florida state line in mid-January.
There's no need for anyone to worry about Sable, who's roughly 7 miles east of the Florida Keys at the last ping. OCEARCH chief scientist Bob Hueter told Treasure Coast Newspapers that he wouldn't be surprised to see Sable wrap around the Keys and head into the Gulf of Mexico.
These sharks that normally call East Coast and Canadian coastline home during the summer months travel southward into warmer water during the cooler months, sometimes making Florida their wintertime destination.
"The region from Cape Hatteras to the Keys is part of their southern feeding range, but they tend to stay well offshore," he told the outlet. "The tagging research has taught us they are a common winter time visitor to Florida waters."