Featured Image Credit: OCEARCH
Whoa! There are three… yes, THREE known great white sharks hanging out in the waters of South Carolina’s Lowcountry!
No worries, these three aren’t “known” because of any attacks. Actually, it’s just the opposite. They’re famous because they’re three out of four great whites that OCEARCH has tagged on their Shark Research Expeditions.
Mary Lee is a mature great white that measured 16 ft long and weighed just under 3,500 pounds when she was tagged in September of 2012. She was the first shark to arrive to the party, after being “pinged” off the coast on September 28th, 2016. She may have been there for a month now, but we’d like to think she’s just socializing.
Miss Costa is a juvenile great white and she measured almost 12.5 ft long, while weighing just over 1,600 pounds. This “little” lady was pinged on October 24th, which is only a month after her tagging in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Meaning that she made a pretty speedy swim down south!
Last to the party was Katharine, another juvenile great white shark measuring close to 14 ft and weighing 2,300 pounds. Katharine was tagged in August of 2013. Just this week, on November 2nd, she pinged not far from where Miss Costa showed up only 6 days prior.
But there’s absolutely no need to worry about them! Small groups of great whites like this are more common than people know. These ladies are probably just there for vacation… like everyone else. Maybe they’ve come for a bite of Charleston’s fresh and local seafood, before they continue their migration.
It’s most likely that they’re making their way down to the warmer waters of the south to avoid the incoming winter temperatures, maybe the Bahamas. Because who wouldn’t love a warm and tropical winter getaway? We know we would!
If you’d like to track these gals and other sharks, you can check out OCEARCH’s site for more information.