MONTEREY — The sixth great white shark ever exhibited at the Monterey Bay Aquarium will get to stretch its fins soon, as it is headed back to the wild.

The young male shark brought to Monterey on Aug. 31 was being transported to ocean waters south of Point Conception Tuesday by animal care staff.

The shark was moved out of the exhibit Tuesday morning and was scheduled to be released offshore during the afternoon.

The decision to release the shark after 55 days on exhibit was based on recent changes in how he was navigating in the exhibit, according to Jon Hoech, director of husbandry for the aquarium.

“These decisions are always governed by our concern for the health and well-being of these animals under our care,” Hoech said in a statement. “It became clear that it was time to release him.”

Like the five other great white sharks that the aquarium has kept on exhibit for periods up to six-and-a-half months, the newest shark will carry a tracking tag that will document its movements in the wild. The pop-up tag will collect information on where he travels, the depths he dives to and the water temperatures he favors for the first 180 days he’s back in the wild. The tag is scheduled to pop free in late April and transmit the data back to a research team via satellite.

The young shark, a 4-foot-8-inch male weighing 43.2 pounds, was collected outside Marina del Rey on August 18 by aquarium staff. The shark was transferred to a 4-million-gallon ocean holding pen off Malibu, where he remained for almost two weeks.

The shark gained nearly nine pounds and grew two inches during the 55-day stay on exhibit.

Exhibit of young great white sharks is part of Project White Shark, a collaboration between the aquarium and several research partners to learn more about and better protect great white sharks in the wild. Since 2002, 45 juvenile great white sharks off southern California have been tagged and tracked as part of the project.

The Monterey Aquarium is the only aquarium in the world to ever exhibit one of the ocean’s top predators for more than 16 days. The five other sharks were successfully returned to the wild.

The aquarium will provide updates on its website, Facebook page and Twitter account.