SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Unlikely friends: 2 great white sharks traveling together shock researchers

Traveling long distances without a companion can SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Centerget lonely − and apparently that goes even for solitary creatures like great white sharks.

Scientists at the nonprofit research organization OCEARCH were surprised when they discovered two sharks they had tagged with satellite trackers in December have since traveled side by side for thousands of miles.

The discovery sheds new light on everything scientists thought they knew about the apex predators, once believed to prefer only their own company, according to Bob Hueter, chief scientist at OCEARCH.

"This is potentially groundbreaking," Hueter said in a video posted Sunday on the Facebook page of the Museum of Science in Boston. "We've never seen anything quite like this before."

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'They seem to be buddies'

Researchers at OCEARCH first tagged the sharks, named Simon and Jekyll for the Georgia islands where they were found, in December on the southeastern coast of the United States. Since then, satellite data has shown the predators moving in tandem along the Atlantic coast for more than 4,000 miles, Hueter said.

Simon, a 9-footer weighing 434 pounds, and 8-foot-long Jekyll, who weighs 395 pounds, eventually reached Canadian waters and have most recently been tracked to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Before the OCEARCH team tagged the sharks, Hueter said, they took samples of blood, tissue and muscle. A geneticist will analyze the samples to determine whether Simon and Jekyll are brothers or otherwise related, he said.

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OCEARCH has tagged more than 400 animals since its first expedition in 2007. And while its research has yielded more than 75 published studies, team members never thought they'd discover that yes, sharks can be friendly.

"Simon and Jekyll," Hueter said. "They seem to be buddies."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].