2,000 Pound Great White Shark Caught, Tagged to Unlock Secrets [VIDEO]

First Posted: Mar 14, 2013 02:48 PM EDT
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A massive 2,000 pound shark has been caught, tagged and released back into the ocean off of Florida in a bid to provide more information on this toothy animal's habits and life cycle. The research team is currently working on analyzing the gathered data.

Dubbed "Lydia", she is the first great white shark to be tagged and released in the United States. The 14-foot (4.3 meter) shark was caught on March 3 and the scene was capture on video. (Watch below.)

OCEARCH, a nonprofit that worked with Mote Marine Laboratory scientists and other researchers, said they to get a sense of the sharks activities are, life cycle and their breeding behaviors. Lydia has been fitted with a satellite tag to track all her movements, along with a device called an accelerometer on her fin.

The accelerometer allows the research team to track the shark's body tilt movements. Since catching and tagging Lydia a week ago, she has already flipped off her accelerometer and satellite tracking, but the research team said they have been able to compile a nice amount of information for their project.

The tracking information and the blood samples the team were able to gather are currently undergoing assessment in a Florida-based laboratory. The team did not give any dates as to when the data report will be released.

Sharks received a lot of attention last week as international delegates gathered at Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and agreed to added five species of shark threatened with extinction from overfishing to a protected list. Over 100 million sharks are killed every year due to illegal fishing as many fisherman try to keep up with the demand from Asia for its infamous shark fin soup delicacy.

Watch the capture of "Lydia" the great white shark below:

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