The Terrifying Great White Shark Named Katherine Was Spotted Again, Close To Virginia
Summer may be the unofficial start to shark season. A gigantic great white shark named Katherine was seen swimming just ten miles away from civilization Sunday. This isn’t the first time the shark has made an appearance on the East coast.
Katherine apparently sent off a satellite ping Sunday from an area 10 miles away from Cobb Island, Virginia, an island part of the Eastern Shore barrier islands located east of the town of Oyster. The Virginia-Pilot reported Sunday that the 14-foot, 2,300-pound shark alerted scientists of its location on Sunday afternoon. She was seen about 80 miles away from Virginia Beach in May.
According to some reports, great whites are the species most often involved in shark attacks on humans. But “Jaws” notwithstanding, great whites may not being attacking humans on purpose but merely taking a nip to test their potential value as food.
The alarm that alerted scientists of Katharine’s location was placed on her when she was captured and identified by a great white shark research and advocacy team called Ocearch. The device is a large satellite tag affixed to her dorsal fin, used to track her movements. When Katharine’s fin reaches the top of the water, a ping notifies a satellite at the research center. She can be tracked in real time online via OCEARCH’s website.
OCEARCH first discovered Katharine looking for food off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and identified her in August 2013 to gather more data concerning migration patterns of sharks via satellite technology.
She was named Katharine as a nod to Katharine Lee Bates, the Cape Cod resident who penned the well-loved song “America the Beautiful.”
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Captured four years ago near Cape Cod and studied by scientists, she then weighed 2,300 pounds and was 14 feet, 2 inches in length. It’s likely that she is much bigger now. Scientists last recorded her weight in 2012.
This wasn’t the great white shark’s first sighting near the shore. According to OCEARCH, Katherine had been spotted in May near Wilmington and Moorehead City, North Carolina. During the winter, she swam between Fort Pierce and Titusville. She's been meandering on a consistent northward route, giving off location signals Brevard County in May.
Katharine goes on outings near Florida quite often. She visited the Treasure Coast in 2014. She set off satellites near the Sebastian Inlet on May 12. She apparently headed to deeper water the morning after and was in the water near the St. Lucie Inlet.
She apparently headed near the Gulf of Mexico and spent June gaining more fans in the Gulf July 6 before she embarked back down south headed toward Sarasota, Florida, where she ended up about 60 miles offshore.
Ocearch tracked 300 sharks over the course of their studies. One, Mary Lee, is about 16 feet long and weighed about 3,500 pounds. She sent a signal out on Memorial Day near the coast of Deleware.
You can follow Katharine and Mary Lee's locations online at :www.ocearch.org and on Twitter: @Shark_Katharine.
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