Mary Lee's Back In N.J. ... And She's Brought A Friend

Mary Lee, the massive female great white shark that has become a Twitter sensation over the last two summers, has returned to New Jersey waters just in time for Memorial Day.

This year, however, she's not the only Ocearch-tagged shark visiting the state's waters; Cisco, an 8-foot male great white tagged with a real-time satellite tag last October is in the area as well.

Cisco is an immature male shark, according to the Ocearch website. He was 8 feet, 7 inches long and weighed 382 pounds when he was tagged off Nantucket, Mass., on Oct. 7. He was named for Cisco Beach on Nantucket and for Cisco Brewery, which created the Shark Tracker Light Lager to support the organization's research.

Cisco has pinged twice in the last few days near the mouth of Delaware Bay. On Sunday morning, Mary Lee pinged roughly 30 miles off Cape May.

The organization has tagged more than two dozen sharks around the world with real-time SPOT satellite tags to track their movements, but Mary Lee has brought a great deal of attention to the organization since the summer of 2015, when followers tracking the shark were greeted by a Twitter account that carries her name. The user behind that account has used the account to educate followers about sharks and their role in the ocean, and the witty tweets have gained the big girl — Mary Lee weighed in at 3,456 pounds and was 16 feet long when she was tagged in September 2012 off Cape Cod — more than 107,000 followers on Twitter.

Ocearch says its research has led to more than 50 scientific papers that are in the process of being written or are in the peer review stage. The website also has a section geared to educational programs for students from kindergarten on up.

Photo via Ocearch