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A pair of young white sharks, Jekyll and Simon, appear to be traveling North American waters together, a finding that is in opposition to the commonly-held perception that sharks are solitary creatures, according to the Museum of Science.
"We don't really expect to see these white sharks staying together," said Bob Hueter, chief scientist at the non-profit marine research organization OCEARCH. "But Simon and Jekyll, they seem to be buddies in the sense that they're going to the same place at the same time."
Researchers tracked shark buds off the Southeast coast of the US in December 2022 as they "practically moved in tandem" up the coast for more than 400 miles. They are currently in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence near Prince Edward Island in Canada.
Jekyll was tracked swimming off the Connecticut coast in mid-June, according to his OCEARCH tracker.
Simon moved through Connecticut waters between May and June, according to his OCEARCH tracker. Similarly to Jekyll, he headed up toward Maine after.
"We've never seen anything quite like this before," Hueter said.
While the sharks are being tagged, researchers take blood and tissue samples. They've tasked their geneticist with figuring out if the creatures are brothers or half-brothers.
Click here to track Jekyll and Simon.
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