Great White Shark Mary Lee Swimming Near Virginia Beach

PHOTOS: Great White shark Mary Lee, from her Facebook page; map from OCEARCH shows her location Monday afternoon.

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She’s ba-aack. We’re talking about that famous Great White shark, “Mary Lee.” She’s hanging out Monday in the waters off of the Virginia coastline.

Mary Lee is a 16-foot shark whose every move is watched by OCEARCH, a scientific community that tracks sharks.

On Monday, Mary Lee was “pinged” off the Virginia Beach coast. OCEARCH gets a “ping” when the sharks’ dorsal fin breaks the water and sends a signal to a satellite. She most recently appeared at 1:36 p.m., in the waters east of Cape Charles.

The shark traveled to the area from the waters off of North Carolina and appears to be heading north.

Scientists with OCEARCH are excited to see the wanderings of Great White shark Mary Lee, a whopping 3,456-pounder. After tagging the shark Sept. 17, 2012 off Cape Cod, they study her habits using a device that sends pings to a satellite. The location where she was tagged is near Martha’s Vineyard, where “Jaws” was filmed 40 years ago this past summer.

Mary Lee was named after OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer’s mother. “My parents have done so much. I was waiting and waiting for a special shark to name after her and this is truly the most historic and legendary fish I have ever been a part of and it set the tone for Cape Cod,“ says Fischer on the OCEARCH Web site.

You can keep up with Mary Lee’s wanderings on the OCEARCH Web site here.