Great white shark resurfacing off the NC coast is no pup

A mature great white shark has returned to the waters off the North Carolina coast, where it visited about the same time last year.

George, a nearly 10-foot-long great white weighing about 700 pounds, pinged twice this week just southeast of Ocracoke and Hatteras islands, according to the research team at OCEARCH.

A “ping” is generated when a tagged shark’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and sends a signal to a satellite, which helps track the shark’s location.

George was first tagged by OCEARCH on Oct. 7, 2016, in Nantucket, Mass.

When his location pinged Sunday night, it was the first time since he surfaced off the Florida Gulf Coast in early February. George pinged again just a little farther southeast on Monday morning.

George gave the North Carolina coast a thorough inspection after a winter tour of the Florida Atlantic Coast last year.

After spending about a month offshore of Bald Head Island, the tracker shows George entered the Pamlico Sound through the Ocracoke Inlet and pinged on April 22, 2017.

The next time George transmitted a signal to satellite was Aug. 9 – all the way up in the Bay of Fundy, between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

OCEARCH research suggests Nova Scotia is a probable breeding site for great whites.

Several other sharks have pinged recently of the N.C. coast, including an immature great white named Bruin, a mature mako named Oscar, and a mature blue shark named Duke.

This story was originally published March 31, 2018 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Great white shark resurfacing off the NC coast is no pup."