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Massive 250 stone 'Queen of the Ocean' shark escapes after being caught

Massive 250 stone 'Queen of the Ocean' shark escapes after being caught

Prepare to be terrified, because a giant shark that was caught by researchers is now on the loose.

Prepare to be terrified, because a giant shark that was caught by researchers has managed to escape and evade their tracking devises.

Right, we've all seen Jaws, so we all know that sharks look terrifying, but the chances of them actually attacking you are slim - unless you're in shark-infested waters.

Anyway, this one absolutely massive shark is called Nukumi, weighs an incredible 3,500 lbs, and is 17 feet two inches.

The shark was caught by the Ocearch team during their 2020 Nova Scotia expedition and was the largest Great White that the team sampled.

She was the biggest shark they'd ever recorded, with the team naming her Nukumi in honour of the Native American Mi’kmaq people of that region.

She's thought to be over 50 years old and the team dubbed her 'queen of the ocean'.

Ocearch analyse data about sharks to learn more about them and their contributions to the ecosystem.

After catching the giant shark, the team fitted her with a tracking device to monitor her movements for the next five years.

The team lost track of the giant shark.
Ocearch/Facebook

The team shared a Facebook post after they caught the massive mammal: "Meet 3,541 pound mature female white shark Nukumi. We named her "Nukumi", pronounced noo-goo-mee, for the legendary wise old grandmother figure of the Native American Mi'kmaq people.

"A culture that has deep roots in Canadian Maritime provinces (particularly #NovaScotia). With the new data we've collected, this matriarch will share her #wisdom with us for years to come.

"She will continue to help balance fish stocks in the surrounding waters, and we look forward to learning more."

However, after two years, the shark is nowhere to be found, and there was no data coming from her tags.

With CEO of Ocearch Chris Fischer telling the Daily Star: "We don’t know [what happened to Nukumi].

You can track the location of sharks on their site.
Ocearch

"Something happened, and [her tags] were damaged or malfunctioned while she was way offshore in the middle of the Atlantic.

"We believe she is OK because we received some faint signals from her tag sometime later, but it’s uncertain."

Their chief scientist Dr. Bob Hueter added that they did manage to track the shark for six months before they lost track of her: "We tagged Nukumi off West Ironbound Island, Nova Scotia, on 2 October 2020.

"She proceeded to provide good SPOT satellite tag data (which is used for the OCEARCH Tracker) for about six months."

We're hoping that Nukumi is out there somewhere thriving.

Featured Image Credit: Ocearch

Topics: Animals, News, Viral, Science