Look out! Katharine the great white shark headed for Texas - and you can track her progress live


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Experts tracking a great white shark through the Gulf of Mexico say the giant killer is heading for Texas.

Katherine, a 14 foot Great White, sends a signal every time she surfaces.

The 2,300-pound shark is part of a pioneering programme to show shark movements live online.

Click here to open an interactive version of the map

Katharine is currently off the coast of Florida, heading towards texas

Katharine is currently off the coast of Florida, heading towards texas

KATHARINE THE SHARK

Katharine, who was tagged off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was named by Cat Products fans in honor of Katharine Lee Bates.

The Cape Cod native and songwriter - best known for her poem and song 'America The Beautiful', which has been called 'an expression of patriotism at its finest.'

Katharine is a 14 foot, 2,300lb Great White

Data from the group Ocearch shows another 'ping' was recorded Tuesday morning from the shark dubbed Katherine.

The 14-foot shark was tagged last August off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

However, reports on Sunday put Katherine about 140 miles west of Sarasota, Florida.

Katherine is one of two great whites that research teams, led by Ocearch, have been following.

Another, Betsy, was tracked on June 5 about 120 miles west of Sanibel Island, Fl.

Researchers say in another week the westbound animal could be past the Mississippi River and eventually reach Texas.

 

The tag sends a signal when the 2,300-pound shark comes to the surface.

Robert Hueter of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota says tags can last up to five years.

'Every track is giving us new information and going contrary to all the assumptions that we were going on,' he told the Houston Chronicle.

Katharine's Route- The shark was first spotted near Miami, passing close to Key west before heading to her current location

Katharine's Route- The shark was first spotted near Miami, passing close to Key west before heading to her current location

'Having them in the Gulf is something we thought happened in the winter time.'

It means she has now traveled almost 5,000 miles since being tagged just 10 months ago. 

Throughout her journey she has stayed close into the coast. 


Beach goers can track her path via the Ocearch website and match it up with their vacations to see if she swam by them.

Katherine is the larger of the two, weighing in at 2,300 pounds at the time of her tagging.

Katharine up close: researchers snapped this picture of the whale when they tagger her near Maine

Katharine up close: researchers snapped this picture of the whale when they tagger her near Maine

At that time she was 14-feet, 2-inches long but scientists following her say it's almost certain she has grown since then. 

The largest ever recorded great white was 21 feet long.

The second shark, Betsy, is also likely to be bigger now. 

Tagged one day before Katherine, she weighed 1,400 pounds and measured 12-feet, 7-inches. 

Katharine the great white shark even has her own Twitter profile

Katharine the great white shark even has her own Twitter profile

Earlier this year, a great white shark heading for British waters – named Lydia – became the first tagged great white shark to cross the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Scientists charting her progress have revealed that the 15ft shark might be swimming towards Europe to give birth to pups.

She was just 800 miles (1,255km) off the coast of Cornwall and Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean and has now turned away from the UK.




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