Celebrity Shark Mary Lee Surfaces Off Island Beach State Park

ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK, NJ — Mary Lee, the tagged great white shark that has been cruising off the New Jersey coast for the last week, was off Island Beach State Park late Sunday morning, according to her latest ping.

The OCEARCH shark tracker showed four satellite pings Sunday from the massive female great white, who was 16 feet and more than 3,400 pounds when she was first tagged in September 2012.

The "pings" are the result of a satellite tag attached to her dorsal fin that automatically transmits data on her location every time she surfaces. Her latest pings are the closest she's been to shore so far this spring, with the location showing up as a mile or so off the beach.

It is not unusual for sharks to be off the New Jersey coast this time of year, when some of their favorite meals — bluefish and striped bass — are in the area. Striped bass migrate north off New Jersey every spring, and bluefish are usually around well into the summer. June is a prime season for makos, threshers (which have a distinct, significantly longer lobe on the top of their tail fin that they use to slap their prey to stun it and eat it) and blue sharks. Great whites, which are protected, also are frequently seen this time of year.

But it is Mary Lee's sheer size — OCEARCH estimates she likely is more than 17 feet long and more than 4,000 pounds by now — and her Twitter persona, which has more than 115,000 followers (she had roughly 16,000 in May 2015 when she skyrocketed to fame), that continue to keep her stirring the imaginations of those followers.

So far, no one has captured a photo of Mary Lee during any of her visits to the Jersey Shore, despite a photo that has been making the rounds on Facebook with updates on the shark's location. Though the shark in the photo is a great white, the photo was taken off South Africa by Chris Fallows in June 2008.

Some of her surfacings have put her very close to shore and even in Barnegat Bay or on land, as one ping Sunday indicated. OCEARCH researchers said the ping putting her on land Sunday was a low-quality errant ping and that what's likely is the shark is simply very close to the beach.

Her Twitter account was having fun with the area, however:

No word on whether she was hoping to take a bite out of the Hydrus on Casino Pier in Seaside Heights.

Photo via OCEARCH

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