Her name is Jiffy Lube2, a relatively small shortfin mako shark that, like others of her kind, swims long distances every day in search of prey and comfortable water temperatures.

But Jiffy Lube2’s travels are making waves among scientists who study sharks.

The 140-pound mako swam 11,000 miles in the past year using a route that researchers at Nova Southeastern University had never seen before: looping the Atlantic twice, going as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as the Bahamas.

Jiffy Lube 2 is the only shark among the 130 tracked by researchers to make a double southerly migration, said Mahmood Shivji, director NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute in Davie, Florida. The project has tracked sharks since 2008, using satellite tags.

Along the way, Jiffy Lube2 spent a few days lazing along the surface of the Atlantic near Cape Cod, basking in the sun and gorging on passing fish. In the past month, she has spent most of her time between Washington, D.C., and New York City, where water temperatures range from about 65 to 75 degrees, comfortable for the fastest species of shark.

Researchers don’t fully understand why sharks go so far north, but theorize they may be following prey. Though not picky eaters, they commonly gorge on bluefish, tuna, herring, swordfish and loggerhead turtles.

Tracking the sharks might be key to their survival. If researchers can better understand migration patterns, they can lobby for tighter fishing restrictions in the areas the predators seem to favor.

Sharks are critical to the overall balance of the ocean’s ecosystem, keeping the marine population in check, said research scientist Derek Burkholder. Yet worldwide, about 100 million sharks of all varieties are killed annually.

Shortfin makos, whose fins are used in a soup that some cultures consider a delicacy, are a step away from being endangered, largely because of overfishing.

Researchers found that makos tend to return to the Caribbean in the winter and the North Atlantic in summer – the same pattern as tiger sharks and great whites.

Currently, the center is monitoring 19 makos in the Atlantic and 17 more in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. It’s also monitoring dozens of tiger sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, sand tiger sharks, blue marlin and sailfish.

One of the tiger sharks, named Harry Lindo, traveled more than 27,000 miles, the longest track distance documented for a tiger shark and possibly the longest ever published for a shark.

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