She's Back! 3,400-Pound Great White Shark Returns To New Jersey

By Karen Wall and Tom Davis

A 3,400-pound great white shark is once again making the rounds just a few miles off the coast of New Jersey.

The shark -- named Mary Lee -- was just a few miles off the Jersey Shore on Thursday, sending out a “ping” off Long Beach Island, according to information reported on the OCEARCH Shark Tracker.

On Friday, she pinged in the Delaware Bay shortly after 10 a.m., just barely on the Delaware side, about 5 miles north of Cape May Point. By afternoon, another ping showed her off Ocean City, N.J.

The shark is one of more than 100 sharks around the world being tracked by OCEARCH, a nonprofit organization dedicated to shark research.

>>Related: Mary Lee the Shark Back in the Delaware Bay

Earlier in May, the shark made a Mother’s Day Visit to the Seaside Heights and Lavallette area, swimming within 2 miles of the shoreline.

And as the organization’s research has grown, so has the following of its tagged sharks. Mary Lee, however, has taken on a following of her own, complete with a Twitter audience of nearly 16,000 followers.

“@MaryLeeShark Can I petttttt youuuuu? Come to Middletown!” tweeted one follower, to which the shark’s account replied, “Just a little too creepy for me, Jordan. -:()

The shark’s path has showed a northerly course up the Jersey Shore, and she was less than five miles off the southern tip of Long Beach Island on May 8, according to a ping at 7:43 a.m. from the OCEARCH Shark Tracker page for Mary Lee.

Mary Lee is 3,456 pounds and 16 feet long, and has traveled almost 20,000 miles since she was first tagged off Cape Cod in September 2012, according to OCEARCH.

Great whites, made famous by the movie “Jaws,” are the world’s largest predatory fish, according to Discovery. They grow to be about 15 to 20 feet or more and can weigh more than 5,000 pounds. Though they are sometimes portrayed as man-eaters, these animals are responsible for just five to 10 attacks per year, according to the BBC.

It is believed that when a great white bites a human, it is giving it a “sample bite” and then releasing the human, according to National Geographic.

Great whites are not uncommon to the Jersey Shore, where sitings are reported, primarily by fishermen, nearly every summer.

And New Jersey is home to one of the most famous shark hunters ever: Frank Mundus. Mundus gained his fame in Montauk after catching a 3,427-pound great white that stands as the largest fish ever caught on rod and reel as certified by the International Game Fish Association, according to Saltwater Sportsman, was born in Long Branch and began his fishing career in Brielle.

Mundus also was the inspiration for ”Capt. Quint,” the old salt shark fisherman in “Jaws.”

The purpose of the OCEARCH tagging is to help scientists gather data about various sharks. Its projects use SPOT tags -- Smart Position and Temperature, which are the only devices capable of real-time tracking of fine and broad scale movement, anywhere in the world, according to the organization.

“SPOT tag data enables the identification of critical areas for highly migratory species such as white sharks, including feeding, breeding and nursery areas, migratory pathways and coastal areas where human/shark interaction is possible.”

If you want to follow Mary Lee or any of the apex predators OCEARCH has tagged around the world, visit the Shark Tracker page here.

And if you decide to try to check her out ... you’ll definitely need a big boat.

(Mary Lee via OCEARCH Twitter page; her most recent location.)

Other Patch stories:

• Police To Hold DWI Checkpoints In New Jersey
• Video Shows Amtrak Train Accelerating To 100 MPH Within Minute Before Fatal Crash
• President Obama to Meet With Police, Community in South Jersey Next Week
• Cops: Man High on PCP Jumped Out of Moving Car; Driver Arrested