Shark makes drastic turn off Outer Banks into the mid-Atlantic. What could it mean?

One of the large great white sharks roaming the East Coast made a dramatic turn off North Carolina and appears headed into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, satellite tracking shows.

The shark, named Miss Costa, was about “300 nautical miles from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” the nonprofit OCEARCH reported in a March 31 Facebook post.

It’s a trek researchers don’t completely understand, but suspect it is part of a post-mating ritual.

“Miss Costa’s movement far into the North Atlantic is consistent with our hypothesis that mature male and female white sharks gather off the Carolinas and nearby areas during late winter and early spring to mate,” OCEARCH reported.

“Once mating has occurred, our hypothesis is that the pregnant female sharks then make offshore runs towards the Mid-Atlantic Ridge while their young are gestating. We’ve seen three other of our large, mature females make these offshore runs during this time frame.”

It’s unclear if Miss Costa has a destination in mind, but none of the sharks tagged by OCEARCH have traveled to the European side of the Atlantic, officials said.

One possible explanation is she’s trying to get away from large, aggressive males that are prone to bite during mating, experts say.

“Mating is a rough process for white sharks and once a female has gone through this and is pregnant, she likely wants to avoid being harassed by other males,” OCEARCH says.

OCEARCH has an expedition scheduled April 17 through May 4 off North Carolina to explore the link between the Outer Banks and shark mating. Hormone data collected from mature white sharks may “confirm if this region is a white shark mating site,” officials said.

Miss Costa was sitting off Wanchese on the Outer Banks when she began her journey east on March 18, data shows. She last “pinged” off satellite on March 31, OCEARCH says.

Her satellite tracker was attached in 2016, and should have run out of battery a year ago, experts say.

She weighed just over 1,000 pounds and was 12 feet, 5 inches when tagged, data shows. It’s estimated she could “be between 14 and 15 feet long today,” OCEARCH says.

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