2 Baby Sharks Frolic Off Coast Of Hamptons

MONTAUK, NY — Baby great white sharks born in a nursery off the coast of Montauk are having a blast hanging out in the Hamptons' surf together.

On Wednesday morning, JD the Shark and Mission pinged close to one another off Southampton, according to OCEARCH.

Mission is a 5', 66 lb. shark, while JD the Shark "is named by the artist and ocean lover Jimmy Buffett, after his father James Delaney," according to OCEARCH, weighing in at 74.2 lbs, 5'4 long, and tagged on Aug. 14 off Montauk.

JD the Shark has been having a shark party all week: On Tuesday morning, he pinged while frolicking with his pal Gurney in the waters off Southampton Town, near East Quogue.

Gurney, an immature 4.5 foot, 61.6 lb. male great white shark pup, was tagged off Montauk on Aug. 11.

Also tagged on OCEARCH's expedition in August were bevy of baby great white sharks including Finn, Amagansett, Montauk, and Bruin, as well as blue shark Azul.

Finn,a 5-foot, 79-pound white shark pup has been dubbed "Finn The Great White" or @GreatWhiteFinn by Ocearch, and has pinged in locations off Southampton and East Hampton, researchers say.

The immature great white sharks were tagged and released off Montauk by OCEARCH and its team of scientists during their second expedition in New York waters in August.

“We've learned a lot about the adult sharks in recent years, but the pups are still a complete mystery,” said Tobey Curtis, lead scientist and fisheries manager at NOAA Fisheries. “Tagging these baby white sharks will help us better understand how essential Long Island waters are for their survival.”

As the sharks' fins breaks the surface, their satellite tags will transmit their location, allowing anyone to follow their movements by accessing the near-real time, free online Global Shark Tracker or by downloading the Global Shark Tracker App available for Apple and Android platforms on the OCEARCH website.

The discovery of the pups just confirms that last year's discovery and tagging of 9 pups meant the possibility of a birthing and nursery area off Montauk, Fischer said.

The pups discovered last year traveled from Montauk to South Carolina and back, Fischer said.

Researchers have been watching the waters off Montauk avidly: In May, a 5-foot, 72-pound white shark pup tagged off Montauk last summer was the first to return to the area 9 months later, just in time for the summer season.

According to Curtis, "Manhattan" was the first of the nine pups tagged in the great white shark nursery last summer to complete the first full loop of the migration cycle.

"We're all kind of learning at the same pace. It's kind of cool," Curtis said. "The OCEARCH platform helped us to dial in to where the little guys were hanging out. Looking at the historical research and bringing it up to date, as well as doing something new, it's very rewarding," he said.

In March, experts said a baby boom of great white sharks was expected to head to the area in the coming months — with the massive mama sharks are about to head to the nursery, located off the coast of Montauk, for the big event.

Montauk, a baby shark nursery

"You guys are sitting in a birthing area," Fischer told Patch in an interview. "My best guess would be that the large mature females are going to be coming in during May and June and dropping off their pups in New York, New Jersey and on Long Island — out to Montauk."

The female sharks drop off the pups and leave, he said.

When the 3,400 lb. great white shark Mary Lee made headlines last year, moving in the New York and New Jersey area and then, spending time near Southampton and then Montauk, the thought was that she may have given birth.

Then, after looking at a scientific paper authored by Jack Casey and Wes Pratt, and another by Curtis, the OCEARCH team caught 9 pups, lifted them up onto the ship, and performed research projects including taking gas, blood and tissue samples.

Now that the pups are being tracked, a whole new age of discovery has evolved, Fisher said. That first year, he explained, is when the pups are most vulnerable. Once they're larger and older, they can avoid various types of danger.

And if the researchers can help those pups succeed, it will be a win-win for future generations, Fischer said.
"They're the lions of the ocean, the balance keepers," he said.

To read a full prior Patch report on the shark pup tagging, click here.

Photos courtesy of OCEARCH.