NIGERIA: Katharine, the big white shark that has awestruck researchers and internet observers as she travels along the Eastern Seaboard, has logged her 10,000th mile since she was tagged in 2013, giving scientists rare insight into her world.
Researchers fitted Katharine’s dorsal fin with a satellite tracking tag in August of 2013 off Cape Cod, as USA Today relates. Since then, she has spent her time in coastal waters along the eastern United States, moving along with the changing seasons, according to Dr. Greg Skomal, a senior scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
“She’s basically a snowbird,” he noted. “My guess is that her migration is mitigated by water temperature, hence the seasonal pattern.”
Katharine’s tag “pings” every time her dorsal fin breaks the surface, revealing her position in real time. The white shark’s movements are enough to make headlines in coastal communities, and when Katharine arrived in the Outer Banks on her journey south earlier this year, residents were stunned to know a great white was in their midst. On Thursday, the white shark pinged at 2:16 a.m. ET off New Smyrna Beach, Florida, as WESH notes, moving along a track that is taking her toward Oak Hill.
