Shark travels half way around the world in just 600 days in new world record

A new record has been broken by a mako shark that has travelled over 20,900km in under two years. Photo / 123RF

A new record has been broken by a mako shark that has travelled over 13,000 miles (20,900km) in under two years.

Named Hell's Bay, the male mako travelled a distance equal to over halfway around the Earth.

He has been dubbed 'Energizer Bunny' for his travels, which took him around the east coast of the US.

The discovery was made by researchers at Florida's Nova Southeastern University, who tagged and tracked the finned creature from May 2015.

The shark It was first tagged off the coast of Ocean City in Maryland, before heading off on the first half of his journey which took him north along the eastern seaboard. Photo / Supplied

It was first tagged off the coast of Ocean City in Maryland, before heading off on the first half of his journey which took him north along the eastern seaboard.

He then made a return near the original tagging site, before spending 2016 jaunting throughout the Atlantic, exploring Nova Scotia, taking in Bermuda and then finally heading back to Ocean City.

Mako sharks are known to be excellent swimmers, reaching sustained speeds of 21mph (35 km/h) with bursts to over 50mph (80 km/h).

'We've had some of our tagged makos take some pretty interesting tracks over the years, but this one swims above the rest,' Professor Mahmood Shivji, who helped track the shark - told Fox News.

'Having Hell's Bay report for as long as he has is fantastic because we're able to really get a detailed look at mako migration behaviour over a good amount of time.'

MAKO SHARKS

• Mako sharks are well-adapted and active open water sharks.

• Like their cousin, the great white, they keep their body temperature warmer than the surrounding water using a high metabolic rate and efficient heat-exchange system.

• They are excellent swimmers, reaching sustained speeds of 21mph (35 km/h) with bursts to over 50mph (80 km/h).

• These sharks have rapid growth rates, twice as fast as some of the other shark species.

• Males mature at around two months, while females mature at about 2.6 months.

• They usually grow to be around four metres long, and weigh over 500 kilograms.