Don’t worry that great white shark is only 30 miles off the Tampa Bay coastline

Ocearch said it first tagged the 11-foot, 8-inch fish last year off the coast of Nova Scotia

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click to enlarge Don’t worry that great white shark is only 30 miles off the Tampa Bay coastline
Chris Ross via Osearch/Twitter

Beach season has arrived in Tampa Bay, and apparently so has Edithe, a nearly 12-foot, 1,138-pound great white shark. And no, this is not a hoax.

In a Twitter post, nonprofit research organization Ocearch said it tagged the 11-foot, 8-inch fish last year off the coast of Nova Scotia. On March 27, Edithe was pinged 30 miles off the coast of Tampa Bay. As one CL reader pointed out on social media, her latest location was actually down in the Keys, so don't worry.

And while a great white did recently nibble a boat out in the Gulf, there have been no great white bites on a Bay area beach. Plus, last year shark bites were down in Florida overall anyway, with just two unprovoked bites between January and June.

Spring break forever.

click to enlarge You can actually track Edith and other Osearch-tagged sharks on the nonprofit's mobile app. - Osearch/Twitter
Osearch/Twitter
You can actually track Edith and other Osearch-tagged sharks on the nonprofit's mobile app.

UPDATED: 04/01/21 3 p.m. Updated to show Edithe down in the Florida Keys.

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About The Author

Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...
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