'Queen of the ocean': 2-ton great white shark captured off the coast of Nova Scotia by marine researchers
- A great white shark believed to be about 50 years old and the largest of its kind discovered in the northwest Atlantic has been discovered by a team of researchers off the coast of Nova Scotia.
- The female shark measures more than 17 feet long and weighs about 3,500 pounds.
- The shark has been named Nukumi after "a legendary wise grandmother figure" from the Native American Mi'kmaq people, researchers from the nonprofit research organization Ocearch said in a Facebook post.
- "When you look at all the healed-over scars and blotches and things that are on her skin, you're really looking at the story of her life, and it makes you feel really insignificant," expedition leader Chris Fischer said.
A nearly 2-ton great white shark dubbed a "true matriarch of the ocean" has been captured by a team of researchers off the coast of Nova Scotia.
They believe the female shark is the largest of its kind found in the northwest Atlantic, they said. She measured more than 17 feet long (5 meters) and weighs about 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg).
In a recent video posted on Facebook, marine biologists from the nonprofit research organization Ocearch dub the giant shark the "Queen of the ocean."
"She's probably 50 years old and certainly her first litters of pups she would have been having 30 years ago are also making babies — really humbling to stand next to a large animal like that," Ocearch expedition leader Chris Fischer says in the video.
The shark has likely reproduced about 15 times in her life, Fischer says in another video posted on Ocearch's Facebook page. This means she could have had as many as 100 offspring in her lifetime and is likely already a grandmother.
The researchers have named the shark Nukumi after "a legendary wise grandmother figure" from the Native American Mi'kmaq people, whose ancestral lands include Nova Scotia, according to the Facebook post.
"When you look at all the healed-over scars and blotches and things that are on her skin, you're really looking at the story of her life, and it makes you feel really insignificant," Fischer says in the video. "She would be a proper, true matriarch of the ocean, a grandmother of sharks."
The team of scientists has been on a monthlong expedition near Nova Scotia to tag great white sharks and take cell and blood samples to better understand the population's migration patterns through the North Atlantic.
After collecting their samples, the researches released Nukumi back into the ocean.
They have already tagged nine female great white sharks, according to NBC News.
Watch the video of how they captured and sampled Nukumi below:
Sharks are among the oldest living animals, with the great white species living up to 70 years old, according to Live Science. Female great white sharks can be pregnant with as many as 14 pups.
Once shark pups are born, they immediately leave their mothers to hunt for food.