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Great white shark passes by Massachusetts on way south

A great white shark passed by Massachusetts as she makes her journey south for the winter.

Luna is a 15-foot, 2,137 pound great white. She was first tagged on October 8 off the coast of Nova Scotia.

OCEARCH reports Luna is the second biggest white shark they've tagged in the North Atlantic.

Luna pinned at 7:49 p.m. Wednesday off the coast of Plymouth. By 5:20 p.m. Thursday, Luna was south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Dr. Greg Skomal, a shark biologist at the Massachusetts Division on Marine Fisheries, told Boston 25 News he’s seen sharks stick around of move through Massachusetts as late as mid-December.

“[Luna] left Canadian waters like all our sharks do this time of year and is now working its way south,” Skomal said. “That shark is a good example of a shark that’s migrating out of parts north and traveling through Massachusetts as it heads south for the winter.”

Boston 25 Meteorologist Vicki Graf said the temperature off the coast of Plymouth and Cape Cod is 47° Fahrenheit.

“The water temp is a major factor,” Skomal said. “That's what motivates these animals to move.”

Skomal said most of the 150 tagged sharks leave the area by mid-December because the water temperature is too cold.

“47 is right on the edge of where these sharks want to be so obviously this shark is moving south,” Skomal said.