The biggest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic has resurfaced – and could be near a popular tourist destination. 14ft Contender was tagged with a tracker in the North Atlantic by OCEARCH in January 2025, 45 miles off the Florida-Georgia coast, off Jacksonville.
Since then he has stormed up and down the coastline, and his tracker transmits a locating signal when his dorsal fin is briefly exposed above the water’s surface. He had remained elusive for many months, since he surfaced in April off Pamlico Sound, off North Carolina.
That was until Wednesday (8) when he briefly surfaced, in the early hours. However experts said it was a “Z-ping” – when the shark spends only a brief period of time at the surface and the signal sent out to researchers is not strong enough to determine a location.
(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
The satellite notification was sent to marine research organization OCEARCH, which tagged him. They don’t know where he is, but based on research and normal habits, experts say he is probably on his way north, to Cape Cod or Atlantic Canada.
A spokesperson for OCEARCH said: “The Z-ping is a weak non-locational ping. It typically occurs when the shark’s fin-mounted tag is briefly at the surface and just one single message is received by an overhead Argos satellite.
“Normally three or more messages are needed during a single satellite pass to calculate a reliable location. As Shark Tracker shows, we received a non-locational Z-ping from Contender on July 7.
(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
“The last actual location for Contender was on April 23 when he was off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. White sharks in the western North Atlantic typically migrate north and spend the summer and early fall foraging in the waters of Cape Cod or Atlantic Canada.
“These two regions offer comfortable water temperatures and an abundant food supply, in particular abundant seals and large fish species.”
Contender’s impressive frame was measured during his tagging on January 17, 2025, about 45 miles off the Georgia-Florida border.
Since then he has travelled more than 7,000 miles. Great white sharks could very soon be cruising off Britain’s coastline, boffins say.
And experts reckon that with the ever changing climate heating waters near the UK it has been “surprising” that one hasn’t turned up yet, the Daily Star previously reported.
Shark expert Dr Jack Cooper says great white sharks swimming in English waters is “an inevitability” as seas warm.
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