Great White Sharks Detected at Gulf Sanctuary

Researchers recorded nine great white sharks around coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, marking the first detections there.

Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Environmental

Great white shark swimming through clear blue-green water past a coral reef, with sunlight filtering down from the surface. — Researchers recorded nine great white sharks around coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, the first detections there. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Researchers detected nine great white sharks around the coral reefs of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary between 2022 and 2025. The findings were detailed in a paper published in September by researchers led by LSU associate professor Michael Dance.

Why it matters

Discoveries of great white sharks west of the Mississippi River are historically rare, making these first sanctuary detections notable. Researchers are raising questions about whether the sharks will have enough prey to stay local or be forced back to the Atlantic Ocean.

Nine great white sharks were recorded over a three-year tracking study using an acoustic receiver array established in 2022, after being tagged along the eastern coast from South Carolina to Massachusetts. Whether the sharks can sustain themselves in the Gulf, and how long they will remain there, has not yet been determined.

The players

Michael Dance

Michael Dance is an associate professor in the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University who runs the Fisheries and Movement Ecology Lab and led the research.

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is a protected marine area in the Gulf of Mexico known for its coral reefs, where the sharks were detected.

The details

Nine sharks traveled past the Atlantic coast and into the Gulf of Mexico, where they were recorded around the coral reefs of the sanctuary. The LSU lab partnered with researchers at Texas A&M University to set up the receiver array that documented their visits.

2022: LSU and Texas A&M researchers establish an acoustic receiver array.
2022-2025: Nine great white sharks are detected at the sanctuary.
September: Researchers publish a paper detailing the findings.

Big Picture

Great white sharks are historically rare west of the Mississippi River, so these first documented visits to the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary mark a departure from that pattern. The findings add to a limited record of Gulf sightings and raise questions about how the species uses protected waters.

Understanding where great white sharks travel helps coastal managers and marine researchers plan protections for species that move between Atlantic and Gulf waters. Public awareness of protected species may also shape how beachgoers and boaters behave near sanctuary reefs.

The takeaway

Great white sharks can move far beyond their expected ranges, so protected areas may need to account for species that travel between oceans. Continued tracking will show whether these sharks settle in the Gulf or return to the Atlantic.