CAPE COD, Mass. - A young female white shark was detected swimming off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Saturday, as she heads toward her northern summer foraging habitat.
Bella, a juvenile great white shark, was tracked about 2.5 miles from Nauset Beach in Cape Cod.
According to OCEARCH, a global nonprofit that studies sharks around the world, Bella traveled an impressive 246 miles over the past seven days. This makes her the most-traveled great white shark on the OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker this week.
The juvenile shark’s migration to Cape Cod is typical behavior, as the region is a popular feeding ground due to a growing population of gray seals, per the National Park Service.
In many cases, seals haul out on sandbars and beaches during warmer months, giving sharks a reliable and energy-rich food source close to shore.
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The shallow, sandy coastline of Cape Cod also helps concentrate seal activity, making it easier for sharks to hunt in confined areas.
As a result, great white sharks migrate into the region seasonally and remain through summer and early fall before moving south again for the winter months.
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Bella was tagged and released in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, on July 18, 2025, by the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station Team, in collaboration with the OCEARCH science and fishing teams and Dr. Nigel Hussey of the University of Windsor.
At the time of tagging, she measured 10 feet 2 inches and weighed an estimated 729 lbs.
OCEARCH said Bella provides valuable data on the movement and behavior of white sharks, including their seasonal presence in the Atlantic Canada, as part of a broader research effort to support conservation of the species in the western North Atlantic.
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"Her presence in these waters adds valuable data to the growing body of research about how white sharks use Canadian coastal habitats during the summer and fall months," OCEARCH said.
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