A huge great white shark has been spotted off US shores

'Scott', one of the many great white sharks being tracked by OCEARCH. Pic: CNN

A monstrous 4-metre great white shark has been spotted swimming off the shores of New Jersey in the US.

Named 'Ironbound' after West Ironbound Island, near Nova Scotia where it was first spotted, the shark weighs over 450kg and was believed to be travelling north to Canadian waters as part of a yearly migration.

Ironbound was first tagged with an electronic tracker by non-profit marine research group OCEARCH in 2019, meaning researchers will get a "ping" whenever it breaks the ocean surface.

OCEARCH chief scientist Bob Hueter said Ironbound was likely around 20 years old – and terrifyingly, nowhere near the biggest shark the group had encountered.

"When we tagged him, he was impressive," Hueter said, adding that the group had tagged sharks weighing as much as 2 tonnes and stretching over 5-and-a-half metres.

To date, the largest (reliably) recorded great white shark was over 6 metres in length, found off the coast of Western Australia in 1987.

Unconfirmed reports claim sharks exceeding 7 metres have been found.

However, as Hueter explained, very little is known about the species, making Ironbound's recent "ping" critical for research.

"Great whites are moving north to the very rich feeding grounds off of Canada and the northeastern US," Hueter said.

"Mating season is over, we think, and Ironbound is on his way north to get into some good feeding ground and bulk up again for the next year.

"Sharks have been around for about 400 million years … they in many cases occupy what's called the apex predator position, in marine food webs.

"Just like on land, that is an important role in terms of keeping the lower parts of the food web healthy and balanced."

The great white population began to fall sharply in the 1980s, but has seen a small recovery in recent years, helped by the International Union for Conservation of Nature labelling the animals as "vulnerable".

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