Sharkuterie, Amelia Finhart, Heady Chomper: What would you name a shark?
We're de-fin-itely going to regret this, but send us your silly, your punny, your most creative names.
As shark sightings ramp up along the Cape and Shark Week takes over the Discovery Channel, Boston.com is on the hunt for some of the most fin-tastic shark names out there.
Locally, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, a Chatham-based shark research nonprofit and museum, works with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries to identify and tag white sharks around and outside of Cape Cod.
Since 2014, researchers have cataloged more than 600 tagged and untagged individual Northwest Atlantic white sharks in the conservancy’s White Shark Logbook.
With a list that large, the names of these sharks range from descriptive – Broken Tail and Scarred Face, for example – to human-like monikers – Amy, Casey, Frank – to celebrity – Gronk and Snoop Dogg – to punny and creative – Sharkuterie, Amelia Finhart, and Heady Chomper.
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So, who comes up with these names?
Megan Winton, staff scientist at AWSC, told Boston.com that the conservancy’s researchers, in collaboration with Dr. Greg Skomal of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, use underwater video footage to distinguish and identify white sharks “based on their unique coloration, markings on the gills and fins, and dorsal fin profiles” and determine whether a shark has been documented before.
“‘New’ sharks are entered into the catalog and assigned a nickname,” Winton explained in an email. “Many of those nicknames are inspired by that individual’s unique markings, which helps with the ID process.”
Dive into some of the name origins
Winton confirmed that all sharks receive names. Some of the sharks have been named in honor of people, such as Casey, who was “named in honor of Dr. Jack Casey, the godfather of white shark research in the northwest Atlantic,” Winton explained.
“Some have been given awesome shark-themed, punny names by donors, for example Big Chomp and Sharkuterie (I wish we could take credit for that one!),” the scientist added.
Other names rely on the shark’s description. A 10-foot male white shark named Mr. Spot Claw, for example, was first captured on video in 2015 and was tagged in 2020, Winton explained.
“He is nicknamed Mr. Spot Claw because he has a spot on one side of his tail and a bear claw (like the pastry)-shaped marking on the other side,” she said. “That name helps jog our memory when we see him.”
Some names such as Lost Camera have a more interesting history.
“‘Lost Camera’ is actually a bit of a mystery shark to us,” Winton said. “It is a white shark that was tagged off Cape Cod in 2018. We collected video footage of it that day, but a shark we encountered later that day knocked the GoPro camera off the pole, and the footage was lost. We keep hoping it will come back and we’ll be able to get footage of it, but until that point it’s known as ‘Lost Camera’ to us.”
How to learn more and get involved
For anyone that may be interested in naming a shark, the conservancy has a fundraising program that allows community members to name a tagged shark in exchange for a $2,500 donation to cover the cost of a research trip. Tagged sharks can then be tracked via the White Shark Logbook and the Sharktivity App.
Check out the conservancy’s White Shark Logbook to learn more about each shark and let us know in the survey below which name is your favorite. Plus: Tell us your ideas for the most creative shark names.
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