Key Highlights
- Around the middle of January, the 12-foot, nearly 1,000-pound female shark, known as "Ernst," was detected off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama, after her satellite tag pinged, researchers said. That location a few weeks ago marked one of the westernmost points recorded for a great white shark in the Gulf and was considered unusual behavior, researchers told news agency SWNS.
- MASSIVE GREAT WHITE SHARK RETURNS TO FLORIDA WATERS AFTER EPIC YEAR-LONG ATLANTIC JOURNEY The ping placed the shark near the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of America off the coast of Louisiana.
- Researchers said the shark’s proximity to shore was notable and that it falls outside what they typically observe for great white sharks in the region.
- A 12-foot, nearly 1,000-pound female great white shark named "Ernst," pictured above, was detected off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama — and most recently, off the coast of Mississippi.
- (SWNS)OCEARCH, a U. S.-based marine research group, tagged Ernst in October 2025 in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.