Top Stories - Longboat Key: July

A 14-foot, 2,300-pound great white shark is currently heading eastbound toward Sarasota.

Mote Marine Laboratory scientists tagged the female shark aboard the M/V OCEARCH in August 2013 as part of “Expedition Cape Cod” off of Cape Cod, Mass. The shark was named Katharine in honor of Katharine Lee Bates, a Cape Cod native and songwriter who is best known for her poem and song “America the Beautiful.”

Sharks on the M/V OCEARCH were lifted onto a special platform and fitted with a fine-scale motion sensor and long-lasting satellite transmitter to monitor their positions.

Since August, Katharine has traveled from Cape Cod past the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, then began swimming west in the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas before changing her path and swimming east toward Sarasota — a journey of more than 5,300 miles.

Katharine’s last ping was recorded at 7:11 a.m. July 6.