Mary Lee trolls off coast near Isle of Palms

Mary Lee, a 16-foot-long, 3,456-pound great white shark, made another trip through the Lowcountry on Friday, passing off the coast of the Isle of Palms.

It stirred up lots of interest on web pages of great white research group Ocearch.

Mary Lee was tagged in September with a satellite transmitter in New England and named by Ocearch. Her travels are followed on the Ocearch monitor website.

In addition, her route is tracked on Ocearch’s Facebook page, where one person posted that he had seen her in the Charleston Harbor.

It is unclear if it was in fact Mary Lee because she did not ping in the Charleston Harbor. A ping occurs when the shark’s fin tag breaks the surface and a satellite is overhead, according to Ocearch. The longer the shark’s fin is above water, the more accurate the ping. It can detect the radius to within 250 meters.

In the past month, Mary Lee has traveled up and down the East Coast between Oak Island, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla.

She first turned up off Isle of Palms in early November, and might have nosed into Charleston Harbor then.

After that, she tracked to Florida, then back up the coast to Charleston Thanksgiving weekend.

In the past week, she had been in the waters off Murrells Inlet until heading South in the early hours of Friday.

Researchers believe she is trying to fatten up for the winter.

Great white sharks can grow to longer than 20 feet and weigh nearly 3 tons.

Reach Brenda Rindge at 937-5713 or www.facebook.com/brindge.