This great white shark is 12 feet long and nearly 1,000 pounds. Now, it’s come to Miami
Ironbound the 12-foot shark was Miami-bound on a day of “historic rainfall” Monday, clearly unfazed by the deluge that swamped racehorses in their stables at Gulfstream Park and grounded passengers at a doused Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport.
All that rain provided a nifty camouflage for one snowbird some might wish had stayed at its namesake island home near Nova Scotia.
Key Biscayne, meet one of your biggest guests: Ironbound.
He’s 12 feet, four inches of white shark — all 998 pounds of him — according to the research group that tagged him on West Ironbound Island near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in October.
More than two months later, Ocearch reports that Ironbound swam his way here, “pinging” just south of Bill Baggs State Park at the tip of Key Biscayne around 8:45 a.m. Monday, under the cover of gray skies and waters ringed by rip currents.
Of course, sharks aren’t bothered by rip currents the way we humans can be and can easily swim parallel to the shore, which, apparently, is what Ironbound has been doing in December.
In fact, he’s been flirting with Florida’s coast for days, swimming particularly close to the shore since Dec. 20. That’s when Ironbound pinged as he hugged the coast from Jupiter to swim south along Palm Beach (where President Trump is hanging for the holidays), Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood and now Biscayne Bay waters near the Bill Baggs swimming and picnic spot.
Ironbound is one of seven sharks to ping data back to the research group over the Hanukkah and Christmas holiday week. Ironbound is the farthest south, and Shaw, off Cape Hatteras, is the farthest north.
Between Ironbound and Shaw, there’s Teazer, Miss May, Vimy, Luna and eight-foot, nine-inch white shark Brunswick, who was between Jacksonville and Boynton Beach for Christmas.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 11:30 AM.
