16-Foot Great White Shark 'Mary Lee' Hanging Out Off Virginia Coast

PHOTO of Great White shark Mary Lee being tagged by OCEARCH; photo courtesy of OCEARCH

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With warmer temperatures and summer just around the corner, Northern Virginia residents can’t help but turn to thoughts of heading out of town and lolling on the beach.

But who wants to hear that a shark — especially a 16-footer — is hanging out in the waters of the DelMarVa coastline?

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 summer.

Mary Lee was “pinged” off of Assateague Island at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday. OCEARCH gets a “ping” when the sharks’ dorsal fin breaks the water and sends a signal to a satellite.

Read more at Patch:

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According to the OCEARCH site, the shark has been swimming near the southern tip of Assateague, near Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, since Sunday morning. The Great White was also pinged Thursday off Ocean City.

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. Watch a video below, courtesy of OCEARCH, of the tagging process: