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Where's 'Cabot'?: Great White Shark Spotted In Long Island Sound Heads Out East

"Cabot," the great white shark spotted off the coast of Long Island Sound, has headed east.

"Cabot," the great white shark being fitted with a tracker.

"Cabot," the great white shark being fitted with a tracker.

Photo Credit: Ocearch/Twitter

His latest pings, around 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 21, show he is southwest of Montauk, according to researchers at ocean research group Ocearch.org. It had been tracked off the shore of Fairfield County in Greenwich.

The news Monday, May 20 that a great white had been spotted off the coast of Long Island for the first time ever, was a shock. 

So much so that for a while so many people logged onto to the site's tracker that it crashed, the group said on Twitter.

Researchers made light of the event by posting a response directly from Cabot @GWSharkCabot: "Oops...looks like my little stunt visiting the Long Island Sound overloaded the @OCEARCH tracker!!! My bad."

The organization said Cabot weighs 533 pounds and is 9-feet, 8 inches long.

His presence is also good for swimmers, well, as long as they don't run into "Cabot," signaling a healthy eco-system in the waters off the Sound, the group said.

Ocearch outfitted "Cabot" with a tracking device last year in Nova Scotia. He was named with help from Sea World using suggestions from Nova Scotians who named him in honor of John Cabot, the 15th-century Italian explorer who sought a route to Asia.

The closest other great whites are Brunswick and Jane who recently pinged from the North Carolina waters, and Lunda, a 2,100-pounder, who was tracked off South Carolina.

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