INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Chessie The Giant Tiger Shark Reaches Long Island, Is She Headed For Cape Cod?

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 23:57 PST, Jun 25, 2015

Chessie, the largest tiger shark ever tagged on the East Coast, has reached the eastern tip of Long Island on a cruise north from her home off Charleston, and it appears she could be set to join the population of white sharks gathering off Cape Cod.

The tiger shark was in fact compared to a great white when she was first caught and tagged off Hilton Head earlier this year, as the Inquisitr previously reported. At 12 feet, two inches in length and weighing in at an astonishing 1,200 pounds, Chessie’s head is similar in size to a white shark. Following her encounter with researchers, the shark remained off the coast of Charleston for some weeks before embarking on a trip along the coast that has been seemingly single-minded in its directness.

That journey has now brought Chessie to the shores of Long Island. According to Ocearch’s website, Chessie’s tag signaled on the morning of June 26 around 6:45 a.m., just a few miles south of Montauk. Several days prior, on June 24, Chessie “pinged” no less than seven times, but she was further out to sea, near the edge of the continental shelf, which the shark appeared to be following earlier in the week.

Chessie’s Long Island sojourn hardly represents the first time she has approached land. Earlier this month, the tiger shark entered the Cape Fear river and was detected just a few hundred yards from shore while swimming at Myrtle Beach, as Star News Online reports.

The tiger shark’s course shows little sign of changing and looks likely to take her to Cape Cod in the coming days and weeks. There Chessie will find that she is hardly the only shark to take up residence in the region as each year a number of great whites migrate to the area. Earlier this week, the first white shark of the season was spotted by researchers off the cape, who were able to identify the animal as a 15-foot-long female, as the Boston Globe reports.

Like many other sharks tracked by Ocearch, Chessie has developed a vibrant online presence. An unofficial Twitter handle for the tiger shark boasts over 16,800 followers who watch Chessie’s every move with interest.

[Image: Ocearch via Twitter]

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