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Shark's 23,000-Mile Journey Uncovers Surprising Transoceanic Connections
26 Oct
Summary
- Alisha, a young female great white shark, traveled 23,000 miles from South Africa to Indonesia
- Her journey is the first confirmed link between South African and Southeast Asian great white populations
- Alisha's tag was returned by an Indonesian fisherman in 2024, nearly a decade after it stopped transmitting
In a remarkable discovery, a long-lost great white shark tag has revealed the stunning 23,000-mile journey of a young female shark named Alisha. Alisha was tagged by researchers off the coast of South Africa in 2012, with the goal of studying her movements within the southern African region. However, over the next four years, Alisha's journey would take an unexpected turn.
Alisha resurfaced in Indonesia in 2016, surprising scientists who had previously assumed that South African great white sharks were completely isolated from shark populations in Asian and Australian waters. For years, her tag's silence had left researchers unsure of her fate, until it was finally returned by an Indonesian fisherman in 2024.
