Some beaches on Cape Cod temporarily closed to swimmers Thursday following great white shark sightings, officials said.

The town of Truro confirmed a sighting at Head of the Meadow Beach at 11:50 a.m. in a brief statement posted to its website.

The sharks direction of travel is unknown, the statement said. Due to this sighting, Head of the Meadow Beach and Coast Guard Beach, Truro, will continue to be closed to swimming until 12:50 pm. After one hour, without any other sightings, the beach will reopen to swimming.

The Truro Recreation Department confirmed via Facebook around 1 p.m. that the beaches had reopened for swimmers.

Be Shark Smart People!the department said in the Facebook posting.

The nonprofit Atlantic White Shark Conservancy told the Globe Thursday that a research boat was on the water off the Cape, and that the pilot is spotting sharks. One shark tagged so far.

The @MA_Sharks Twitter feed, which is manned by John Chisholm, a shark researcher who works with the states Division of Marine Fisheries to identify great whites and other sharks, said additional Cape beaches also closed due to the sighting.

The beach closings he cited were Nauset in Orleans, Newcomb Hollow, and Lecount Hollow (also known as Maguire Landing) in Wellfleet, as well as Head of the Meadow and Coast Guard.

Please follow be #SharkSmart and follow shark safety guidelines, Chisholm tweeted.

In Wellfleet, Suzanne Grout Thomas, the towns director of community services, confirmed via e-mail around 4:25 p.m. that the towns local beaches were open.

They were never closed, just the water closed to swimming and yes, they are all open, she wrote.

Thomas said in a follow-up message that the beaches had reopened for swimming.

Thursdays Cape sightings came after Julie Dimperio Holowach, a 63-year-old seasonal resident of Harpswell, Maine, was killed late last month by a great white while swimming off of Bailey Island in what officials said was that states first fatal shark attack on record.

Steve Annear of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.

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Several Cape Cod beaches temporarily closed following great white shark sightings - The Boston Globe