Great White Shark Now Off The Coast Of Ireland

There Is A Great White Shark Off The Coast Of Ireland

That great white shark we reported was heading to the UK last Friday?

Were you hoping it had turned back?

Nope.

Lydia, the great white currently being tracked by Ocearch, is still terrifyingly (or rather, intriguingly) close to the UK, according to the latest data.

The course of the 15-foot, 2,000lb carnivorous fish can be followed live at the Ocearch website.

Not only is Lydia the first confirmed case of a shark crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge on her long migration from Florida, Ocearch said the shark is now less than 780 miles from Ireland, and could be in the area in time for St Patrick's Day.

Ocearch said there had been so much interest in Lydia that their servers had crashed:

Ravenous predators, Great Whites are the largest and most notorious of all the carnivorous sharks. They are usually found on the coasts of South Africa, Australia, California and Hawaii, among many other areas, but do not usually swim as far north as Britain.

Lydia has so far swum more than 19,000 miles since having her tracker installed.

"We have no idea how far she will go, but Europe, the Med, and the coast of Africa are all feasible," said Dr Gregory Skomal, senior fisheries biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries.

The aim of Ocearch is to "generate previously unattainable data on the movement, biology and health of sharks to protect their future while enhancing public safety and education."

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