Why 10,000-plus sharks are hanging out in Florida waters

By Mindy Weisberger

February 17,2016; 9:54AM,EST

Credit: Mark Mohlmann
Approximately 10,000 to 12,000 blacktip sharks are currently swimming off the Florida coast, but while these numbers may seem menacing, shark researchers say it's not unusual to see these animals -- visible as tiny dark spots in aerial photos and video -- in the area at this time of year.
These annual visitors are there to feed on fish and bask in warm coastal waters, according to Stephen Kajiura, a professor of biological sciences at Florida Atlantic University who conducts a survey of the migrating sharks every winter. And don't panic -- these sharks typically have little interest in people, Kajiura told Live Science.
Visitors to those beaches could even catch a glimpse of the blacktips breaching, leaping out of the water "like dolphins," Kajiura said.
Kajiura began surveying the blacktip sharks in 2011, counting them after they migrate to south Florida during the winter. He said these numbers are typical during the peak of the blacktips' winter sojurn in the area, which begins in mid-January and lasts until the end of March.
The sharks, which grow to about 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length, spend their summer months near Georgia and the Carolinas, where they mate and birth their pups, Kajiura said.
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