Hilton, A Great White Shark With Large Twitter Following, Surfaces Off Pensacola
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PENSACOLA (CBSMiami) – Hilton, a huge Great White shark with an even bigger social media following has shown up near the Florida Panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hilton is a 1,326-pound white shark with nearly 20,000 Twitter followers and Friday morning, his tweet read, "Hello Florida! Anyone know where I can find some fish?"
Hello Florida! Anyone know where I can find some fish? pic.twitter.com/XFZN6N7QaS
— HiltonTheShark (@HiltonTheShark) April 27, 2018
The mature male white shark, who has swum almost 10,000 miles in the past 14 months, was tagged by OCEARCH, a shark research organization, in March 2017 off the coast of South Carolina. Hilton's movement has been tracked ever since.
The 12.5-foot shark has mostly hugged the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, swimming as far north as Sonora, Nova Scotia, in October. But a "ping" at 9:32 p.m. Tuesday put Hilton's location in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Navarre.
A ping is determined when the tagged shark's dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and transmits a signal to a satellite overhead, according to OCEARCH's tracking system. The transmission then sends an estimated geo-location.
Hilton was named after Hilton Head, S.C., where he was caught and tagged by OCEARCH.
