Miss Costa, A 12-Foot Great White Shark, Returns To Florida Waters
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miss Costa, a huge Great White shark with a sizeable social media following is back off the coast of Florida, working her way around the peninsula and now into the Gulf of Mexico.
gulf life = pure bliss pic.twitter.com/C65i6YuKft
— Miss Costa (@MissCostaShark) April 1, 2019
Miss Costa is a 1,668 pound white shark with more than 9,500 Twitter followers and earlier this week, her tweet read, "gulf life = pure bliss" when she was spotted off Clearwater.
The 12 and a half foot shark is moving quickly. She 'pinged' Thursday April 4, about 120 miles southeast Panama City Beach in the Panhandle.
Miss Costa is one of the many sharks being tracked by OCEARCH, a shark research organization.
Miss Costa also pinged March 17 just off Key West on the Gulf side and her Tweet read, "Florida Keys baby! What a life!"
florida keys baby! What a life! pic.twitter.com/sW1bqemncC
— Miss Costa (@MissCostaShark) March 18, 2019
A ping is determined when the tagged shark's dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and transmits a signal to a satellite overhead, according to OCEARCH's tracking system. The transmission then sends an estimated geo-location.
She also pinged on March 14 on the ocean side of the Florida Keys, as she started to round the peninsula into the Gulf.
Her tweet read: "yep it's time, gulf of mexico here I come! I look forward to this trip every year."
yep it's time, gulf of mexico here i come! I look forward to this trip every year pic.twitter.com/nY4BCqW9tm
— Miss Costa (@MissCostaShark) March 15, 2019
Miss Costa's journey into the Gulf of Mexico is apparently a rite of passage. According to Ocearch, she took a similar route in 2018 when she spent time in the Gulf and near the Florida Keys after making a trip down the east coast of Florida.
She also showed up off the Florida Keys in 2017, hugging the Keys' coastline into the Gulf of Mexico.
The shark, first tagged in September 2016 off Nantucket, Massachusetts, is named for Costa Sunglasses.
Miss Costa is not the only great white being tracked in the Keys. There's also Nova, an 11-foot-6 male weighing 1,186 pounds.
