[category]
[title]
An enormous great white shark was just spotted in the St. Lawrence.
As summer temperatures rise, great white sharks are increasingly known to travel as far north as Canada.
Check out: Best beaches in and around Montreal
According to Ocearch tracking data, the shark—named Bella—was tracked moving through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, close to the northern edge of the Quebec archipelago.
Ocearch, who monitor shark movements across the North Atlantic using satellite tagging technology, report that Bella last transmitted a signal on July 6 at 10:51 a.m.
Can Bella be tracked in real-time?
Bella was first tagged and released on July 18, 2025, in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, by the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station team in collaboration with Ocearch scientists and researcher Nigel Hussey of the University of Windsor.
To see exactly where Bella is swimming right now, you can use the Ocearch interactive map here.
The tagging is part of a long-term research initiative studying great white shark migration patterns, behaviour, and seasonal feeding habits in Atlantic Canada.
Discover: One of the world’s best beaches is in Canada—and it has a hidden walking path
View this post on Instagram
What is the largest shark found in Canada?
According to Oceana, the largest shark found in Canada is the Greenland shark which inhabits the cold, deep waters of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
These massive fish can grow up to 6.4 metres long and weigh over 2,000 pounds.
Over the past month, Bella travelled from Cape Cod into the Gulf of Maine, then along the coast of Nova Scotia. She was later detected near Prince Edward Island before continuing north toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
At the time of tagging, Bella was a juvenile great white shark measuring approximately 10 feet 2 inches and weighing around 729 pounds. Her name, meaning “beautiful” in Italian, was chosen in honour of a supporter of Ocearch based in Florida.
Bella is one of several great white sharks currently moving north. According to Ocearch, an increasing number of tagged sharks tracked via the Global Shark Tracker are migrating seasonally from New England toward Atlantic Canada in search of feeding grounds.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence, with its abundant seal population, is considered one of the key seasonal feeding areas attracting great white sharks during the summer months.
RECOMMENDED:
Full guide to the best things to do in Montreal
Montreal's best pools to cool off in this summer
Best parks in Montreal