Red line shows Mary Lee’s position on Wednesday afternoon, deep inside St. Helena Sound. Photo: Ocearch
An enormous Great White Shark has made an odd detour into a South Carolina inland waterway. Mary Lee, a tagged specimen weighing in at 3,500 pounds and measuring 16 feet in length, gave scientists tracking her reason for a double-take when, on Wednesday night, she entered St. Helena Sound. According to a report on Grindtv.com, the shark is in about 20 to 25 feet of water in an estuary rich with shrimp and other bait. Fishermen shrimp the shallow marsh that surrounds the area she’s in.
While no alarms have been sounded and no visual sightings of the shark have taken place, residents have been advised of the predator.
Mary Lee has been wearing a satellite tracking tag since 2012, when the group Ocearch tagged her off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The shark’s foray into the sound is unusual because, with the exception of when Great Whites are pupping or close to shore during primary feeding season, they spend most of their time in deeper waters, far off shore.
Right now, Ocearch scientists are monitoring the massive shark’s postion. Updates will be available on their Facebook page.
Mary Lee during her 2012 tagging off Cape Cod. Photo: Ocearch
