Oh my! A young great white shark was tracked near Myrtle Beach this week. He’s 395 pounds

Myrtle Beach’s winter tourism window isn’t just for snowbirds of the human type — Jekyll appears to be spending his season basking in the Atlantic’s southeastern waters.

The 395-pound juvenile great white was pinged about 50 miles off the Myrtle Beach coast Jan. 3 by tracking group OCEARCH — traveling 358 miles over the past 16 days.

The shark - named after Georgia’s Jekyll Island where OCEARCH researchers first encountered him — is the 87th great white tagged in the western Atlantic Ocean.

A “ping” occurs when satellite tags affixed to the animal’s dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water.

Tracking data helps researchers demystify life cycles and behavior of the ocean’s greatest predators.

Among the 25 OCEARCH sanctioned projects completed this year were two involving Kimberly Ritchie, an associate professor of genetics at the University of South Carolina Beaufort.

Her work involved looking into bacterial communities living on sharks that contribute to their metabolism and disease management.

The Carolinas are known for their shark appeal: In late October, two tagged great whites breached the water just long enough to ping. One was 1,308 pounds tracked off Myrtle Beach and the other 9-foot-9-inch predator was identified 125 miles to the north.

More than 40 species of shark call the Grand Strand’s season home, with peak season running from early May through October.

This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 10:45 AM.