Great white walkabout: How Aussie sharks became Mediterranean migrants

THEY are the accidental migrants, great white sharks originally from Australia living half a world away in the waters of the Mediterranean.

Astonished researchers from the University of Aberdeen have found the great whites of the Mediterranean share the same DNA as those in Australia.

It's believed a few pregnant females made a "navigational error" about 450,000 years ago during a time of global climate change and were pushed up Africa's west coast by a strong current until they entered the Mediterranean via the Straits of Gibraltar.

The females then gave birth, and the great whites have stayed in the Med - although in low numbers - because, like salmon, they return to their place of birth.

The scientists analysed the DNA of four great whites caught in the Med - two caught in the Bay of Edremit off Turkey two years ago, another off Tunisia in 2006 and the fourth off Sicily 20 years ago.

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