Superstar shark Mary Lee reappears in the Lowcountry, great white shark party continues
Rejoice, shark lovers. The great white shark party in the Lowcountry continues, and the internet’s most famous shark has made yet another appearance.
Mary Lee, the loveable 16-foot, 3,500-pound great white shark who happens to have more than 102,000 Twitter followers, pinged her location last week near Hilton Head Island, the start of an extended stay.
According to shark research group OCEARCH, which tagged Mary Lee, the shark has made her way to South Carolina’s coast each fall like clockwork. And this year, despite a one-month absence, she’s back and better than ever.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. -;() @OCEARCH #hiltonhead #Savannah pic.twitter.com/N7IFo7kDNW
— Mary Lee the shark (@MaryLeeShark) November 11, 2016
Mary Lee’s latest ping comes as good news, as she hadn’t made an appearance since before Hurricane Matthew, when she pinged her location location off the coast between Tybee Island and Hilton Head Island in late September.
She pinged again Nov. 9 off the coast of Hilton Head and has been cruising and pinging around the Lowcountry ever since. According to OCEARCH’s tracking, she’s been moving closer to shore in the last few days. On Saturday she pinged her location roughly 15 miles off the Tybee Island coast.
Mary Lee is an immensely fast swimmer. She’s swum a whopping 34,000 miles over the past 4 years, averaging an impressive 119 miles a day. OCEARCH tagged Miss Mary in September 2012 and has tracked her impressive adventures throughout the Atlantic — as far south as the Bahamas and as far north as Massachusetts.
A power ping tonight off Hilton Head. Told you I'd be back when the election was over. And boy is it over. -;() pic.twitter.com/qZy4Gp1Y3c
— Mary Lee the shark (@MaryLeeShark) November 10, 2016
According to her Twitter account, Mary Lee’s absence had nothing to do with Hurricane Matthew. She was just “staying low until this election is over.” Can you blame her?
Mary Lee is wildly popular — arguably the internet’s favorite shark with more than 102,000 Twitter followers and 65,000 Facebook followers. So naturally, she’s not alone out there.
Miss Costa, a young, 12-foot, 1,600-pound great white shark, last pinged her location off the Lowcountry coast Oct. 24.
It seems @MissCostaShark (yellow track) and I share a fondness for the waters off #Savannah. -;() @OCEARCH pic.twitter.com/RDfiGvOd4x
— Mary Lee the shark (@MaryLeeShark) November 14, 2016
Mary Lee and Miss Costa are both being tracked by OCEARCH through Expedition Nantucket, an initiative to provide a broader understanding of the ecology, physiology, and behavior of the north Atlantic great white.
This story was originally published November 14, 2016 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Superstar shark Mary Lee reappears in the Lowcountry, great white shark party continues."