Percy, a 432-pound great white shark, pinged about 30 miles from Pensacola Beach’s white-sanded shores for the second time on May 11.
The shark, which measures 9 feet and 9 inches, was first pinged in the Gulf, near the Florida Panhandle, on April 21, according to OCEARCH. Percy’s path hugged the shelf-edge ridge of the West Florida Shelf off the Panhandle as he meandered northwest.
A second ping occurred on the night of April 26. A z-ping from Percy was recorded on May 6, but Percy’s exact location at that point isn’t known. A z-ping occurs when a tagged shark swims close enough to the surface for a signal to be sent and received by an Argos satellite, but it isn’t strong enough to determine an accurate location, according to OCEARCH.
The ping happened roughly 30 miles southeast of Pensacola Beach, showing a turn back toward the east. Like snowbirds, great white sharks tend to migrate south, along the eastern U.S. coastline, when water gets cold, and food sources become scarce up north.
Percy has likely reached the end of his migratory journey and will begin to make his way back to Nova Scotia, where he was originally tagged in July 2025. He has traveled nearly 3,000 miles since last July.
Who is great white shark Percy?
Percy is a sub-adult male great white shark who measured 9 feet and 9 inches and weighs 432 pounds when he was first tagged.
OCEARCH researchers tagged and sampled Percy on July 28, 2025, in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. He was the sixth shark tagged during OCEARCH’s summer residency field research study.
According to OCEARCH, Percy was after a member of the Cross family, a prominent family residing on the Tancook Islands off the coast of Nova Scottia.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Beach had a great white shark ping 30 miles away
Reporting by Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
