Video shows great white shark off Sarasota coast check out boat near whale carcass

Kim Luciani, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Updated ·3 min read

The death of sperm whale that had beached itself on a sandbar off Venice Beach, Florida March 10 led to an interesting great white shark encounter with a boat a week later.

After a necropsy was completed on the 44-foot, 70,000-pound whale, its remains were towed at least 10 miles off the Sarasota County coast.

Great white sharks are opportunistic eaters, whose diet consists of fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals, according to NOAA Fisheries. That includes occasionally scavenging a dead whale.

Such was the case when boaters near the whale carcass came face-to-face with a great white shark that headbutted a camera and investigated the boat's motor before swimming over to the whale carcass and tearing into it.

According to WFLA, the encounter was captured on video by Brian Jung on March 17, who told the news outlet, “We located the carcass and there were three great white sharks eating off the blubber on the whale.”

Other great white sharks surfaced off Sarasota coast

Several sharks, tracked by the research group OCEARCH, have pinged off Sarasota's coast recently.

On March 5, a 10-foot 5-inch, 600-pound white shark nicknamed Rose, pinged in Sarasota waters.

Penny, a 10-foot 3-inch, 522-pound white shark pinged near Sarasota on Jan. 11.

Do great white sharks swim around Florida?

Yes. Great white sharks migrate south, including Florida, when the water gets cold and food sources become scarce up north, according to OCEARCH chief scientist Dr. Bob Hueter.

Think of them as the snowbirds of sharks.

Most of them tend to stay away from the beaches in continental shelf waters, Hueter said.

Most shark attacks happen in Florida

There were 69 documented unprovoked shark attacks around the globe in 2023. The U.S. led the world with 36 attacks and Florida again was the state with the most bites at 16.

Florida shark attacks by county:

While the U.S. has the most attacks, South Africa has the most shark-related fatalities.

Great white shark facts

Here are some things to know about white sharks, according to NOAA Fisheries:

  • White sharks grow slowly. Males mature at around 26 years old and females at around 33 years old. Life expectancy is difficult to determine but is estimated to be between 30 and 70 years.

  • White sharks are about 4 feet long at birth but can grow up to about 20 feet long and weigh over 4,000 pounds.

  • White sharks are partially warm-blooded and can maintain their internal body temperature above that of the surrounding water. This allows them to be more active in cooler waters than cold-blooded species.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: See great white shark off Sarasota encounter boaters near dead whale