Freya is a female sub-adult great white shark that frequents the North Carolina coast. Despite her age, the teen shark is 11.3 feet long and weighs approximately 883 pounds.
According to tracking data provided by OCEARCH, a nonprofit organization dedicated to marine research, Freya has spent much of her teenage years hugging the state's shoreline before making her way up and down the east coast.
OCEARCH's marine life app and website use satellite tracking devices placed on the shark's fins to follow their patterns and locations as they navigate life below the surface.
Freya's tracked pattern off the coast of North Carolina. OCEARCH
Freya's last location ping on June 19, 2022, showed that she was just outside the town of Nags Head on the Outer Banks.
A couple of days later, on June 21, a Z-Ping at 9:22 a.m. showed that she broke the surface.
This area is close to where she was originally captured to be tagged on an Onslow Bay barrier island in 2021.
Since being tracked, she has traveled approximately 4,583 miles in the Atlantic Ocean, making her way as far north as Maine and all the way down to the tip of Florida.
But despite her travels, she is often located close to her home, hugging the shoreline of the Outer Banks and making her way up and down the Carolina coast.
Her name is an Old Norse name that translates to "noble woman." The Norse goddess Freya represents love, beauty and fertility.
According to her bio, "Freya was named in homage to the noble women researchers on both Expedition Carolinas and on all past research expeditions who are working to uncover crucial shark insights related to their species' conservation."
You can keep track of Freya and other marine animals with the tracker tool found on OCEARCH's official website.