Tiger Shark Surfaced Twice In Back Bays Last Week

OCEAN CITY — The satellite tracker on a 13-foot, 1,000-pound tiger shark pinged twice in the span of less than an hour in the Isle of Wight Bay last Friday, causing quite a stir among residents and visitors, but early this week the shark had been detected swimming in the open ocean off the coast of New Jersey.

In May, OCEARCH, a research organization that tracks the movements of big sharks all over the world, tagged the shark off the coast of South Carolina. The shark, named “Septima” in honor of civil rights activist and South Carolina native Septima Poinsette Clark, was fitted with a transmitter that sends signals to a satellite when its dorsal fin breaks the surface.

Septima has been tracked up and down the coast from North Carolina to New Jersey. Since she was tagged in May, Septima has traveled nearly 3,400 miles along the mid-Atlantic region.

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