Real Life JAWS Spotted off Coast of Hamptons, OCEARCH: Great White Shark "Mary Lee" Spotted in Waters of Long Island, NY

Jaws is on the minds of Long Island, New York, residence as a very rare spotting of a great white shark in the water near the Hamptons is closely monitored by officials. The great white was named Mary Lee when she was first caught and tagged last September in Cape Cod by OCEARCH, a non-profit global shark tracker. Mary Lee seems to pose no threat to the community, but the media is trying to get the Jaws theme stuck in your heads.

OCEARCH spotted Mary Lee off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, on January 9th and then by the Carolinas the next day. Earlier this week, the great white shark was tracked off in the waters of Quogue and then Montauk point, New York, by a Coast Guard official. The Coast Guard contacted OCEARCH since the official had never seen a great white shark so close to the Hamptons area. OCEARCH quickly reassured the Coast Guard official that Mary Lee was 20 nautical miles off the coast and heading out towards to the ocean. It was still enough to cause a bit of worry for some residence but at least we got to introduced to Mary Lee!

Great white sharks are located in pretty much any ocean all over the world where the water temperature is between 54º and 75º F. The film Jaws focused on the great white shark's reputation as a "man-eater" but most attacks are due to mistaken identity and usually end up being non-lethal. Organizations like OCEARCH hope to educate the world on great white sharks through their tracking research.

This great white beauty is 16 feet long and weighs in at around 3,500 pounds (Sorry, I know it's impolite to discuss a lady's age). The only way to tell a great white sharks age is by counting the rings in its spinal chord, much like telling the age of a tree. So based on her size and weight, Mary Lee is anywhere between 20 years old and 70 years old. Since I mentioned her weight earlier, I will say that she is most likely close to 20 years old. Every time a tagged shark breaks the surface of the water he or she is swimming in, the tracker on its dorsal fin sends a signal to OCEARCH revealing the shark's location. So maybe some lucky Hamptons residence will get a glimpse of Mary Lee the next time she checks in with OCEARCH.