Florida
Colossal white shark tagged by OCEARCH, frequent Florida visitor, pings in rare location
Sharks could help predict hurricanes
Researchers at the University of Delaware and hoping that sharks equipped with sensor tags can help forecasters better predict hurricanes.
The largest male great white shark ever tagged and released by the nonprofit research group OCEARCH is making waves again, this time with a rare ping location.
The 13-foot, 9-inch, 1,653-pound shark, nicknamed Contender, was tagged in the waters off the Florida-Georgia border in January 2025.
Shortly after, Contender toured the east coast of Florida.
The massive animal first surfaced in Sunshine State waters on Jan. 26, 2025, pinging three times off the Fernandina Beach coast. Contender then zig-zagged between Amelia Island and Jacksonville Beach before swimming south to the waters off St. Augustine on Feb. 6, Volusia County on Feb. 8 and 9, and Brevard County waters on Feb. 10.
Contender then headed north, pinging off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in July — staying “silent” (or no pings) until Sept. 29.
That’s when the shark pinged about 857 miles north, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, northeast of Anticosta Island, Canada, a region OCEARCH-tagged sharks rarely ping from, the group’s senior data scientist John Tyminski said in an Instagram video.
“Big shark, big journey,” Tyminski said.
Tyminski said the food supply – harbor and gray seals, along with abundant schooling fish, such as mackerel and herring – is what’s most likely drawing Contender into the 50-degree waters.
Here’s what to know about Contender, OCEARCH and great white sharks:
Contender is the biggest male great white shark tagged by OCEARCH
Contender measured 13 feet, 9 inches and weighed 1,653 pounds at the time of tagging, making it the largest male white shark ever tagged by OCEARCH.
“Contender is the largest male white shark the OCEARCH team has sampled, tagged, released and studied to date in the NW Atlantic white shark population! So he’s pretty special,” Nicole Ralson, OCEARCH chief marketing officer, said in an email.
Massive great white shark caught and tagged off Florida-Georgia coast
Contender is a 1,653-pound great white shark, the largest male tagged and released by OCEARCH scientists. He was tagged off the Florida-Georgia coast.
What do we know about OCEARCH great white shark Contender, who has surfaced several times in Florida?
Contender, an adult male white shark, was tagged by OCEARCH off the Georgia-Florida coast on Jan. 17, 2025.
“Meet Contender, the ultimate ocean warrior! This powerful white shark was tagged on January 17, 2025, off the FL/GA coast, about 45 miles offshore,” the shark’s tracker page reads. “Contender is a mature male now contributing to OCEARCH’s mission of shark research and ocean conservation.”
According to his tracker, Contender has traveled 3,210 miles since being tagged.
Contender was reportedly named for Contender Boats, a longtime OCEARCH partner.
What is OCEARCH? What does research group do for great white sharks?
OCEARCH is a nonprofit research organization studying the ocean’s giants.
The group studies keystone species, including great white sharks, essential for the health of the oceans.
“At OCEARCH, we’re on a mission to solve the Global White Shark Puzzle. There are nine populations of white sharks across the globe and OCEARCH’s goal is to assist regional scientists to better understand the life of the white shark in each of these populations,” the group’s website states.
Jacksonville University has been the academic home for OCEARCH for nearly a decade and the planned new location for the group’s new headquarters facility is in Mayport, Florida.
How many great white sharks are there?
There’s no absolute data on the global population of white sharks and estimates vary widely – from 3,000 to over 10,000.
According to NOAA Fisheries:
- The stock status for white shark populations in U.S. waters is unknown and no stock assessments have been completed. No stock assessments are currently planned in the Atlantic.
- Research by NOAA Fisheries scientists indicates that abundance trends have been increasing in the northwest Atlantic since regulations protecting them were first implemented in the 1990s.
- According to a NOAA Fisheries status review and recent research, the northeastern Pacific white shark population appears to be increasing and is not at risk of becoming endangered in U.S. waters.
What do great white sharks eat?
According to NOAA Fisheries, white sharks have a diverse and opportunistic diet of fish, invertebrates and marine mammals.
Juvenile white sharks mainly eat bottom fish, smaller sharks and rays, and schooling fish and squids.
Larger white sharks often gather around seal and sea lion colonies to feed and also occasionally scavenge dead whales.
Great white sharks in Florida: Why are they here? What to know
North Atlantic great white sharks spend winters off the southeast U.S., from South Carolina to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s why.
Great white shark facts
- Weight: Up to 4,500 pounds
- Length: About 4 feet (at birth) and up to 21 feet (adult)
- Lifespan: 70 years or more
- Threats: Bycatch, Habitat Impacts, Overfishing. According to NOAA Fisheries, the white shark is a prohibited species (no retention allowed) in all U.S. waters and fisheries. There are no commercial fisheries for white sharks, but they are occasionally caught as bycatch.
- Region: Alaska, New England/Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Islands, Southeast, West Coast
- Teeth: Great white sharks have 300 teeth but don’t chew their food. Instead, they rip it into pieces and swallow it whole. The sharks have an endless supply of teeth, with lost teeth regenerating infinitely.
- Smell: According to OCEARCH, great white sharks can sniff out a single drop of blood in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
- Sight: Great white sharks can see well in low light, enabling them to hunt at dawn, dusk, or in deep waters, OCEARCH reported.
- Additionally, white sharks can detect weak electrical signals emitted by living creatures, even under sand. They also identify vibration changes in the water, allowing them to find prey by sensing movement.
OCEARCH shark tracker: Follow great white sharks in Florida, beyond
North Atlantic great white sharks migrate as far south as Florida and the Gulf in winter, searching for warmer waters and more food sources.
According to the group’s website, OCEARCH is “a global nonprofit organization conducting unprecedented research on our oceans’ giants in order to help scientists collect previously unattainable data in the ocean.”
OCEARCH has tagged 140 white sharks, many of them along the Eastern Seaboard and Nova Scotia.
You can follow their journeys on the OCEARCH shark tracker website or by downloading the OCEARCH Global Shark Tracker app.
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Florida
Florida high school football team pulls off miraculous touchdown to help win state championship
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A Florida high school state football championship finished with a phenomenal ending for one team and absolute heartbreak for the other on Saturday night.
Lake Mary High School was down six points with seven seconds left in the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 7A title game against Vero Beach. Noah Grubbs dropped back to pass and rolled to his right. He gained momentum and fired the ball, which was tipped and caught short of the goal line.
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A Lake Mary quarterback looks to throw in the FHSAA Class 7A state championship, Dec. 13, 2025, at Pitbull Stadium in Miami. (Crystal Vander Weit/TCPALM/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
As Vero Beach defenders tried to keep receiver Barrett Schultz out of the end zone, Schultz’s teammate Tavarius Brundidge Jr. came around and took the ball out of Schultz’s hands. Brundidge ran the ball into the end zone to complete the wild and chaotic play.
The touchdown tied the game, and Lake Mary would kick the extra point to win, 28-27.
INDIANA’S FERNANDO MENDOZA WINS 2025 HEISMAN TROPHY
A Lake Mary player in the FHSAA Class 7A state championship, Dec. 13, 2025, makes a catch at Pitbull Stadium in Miami. (Crystal Vander Weit/TCPALM/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
“I was just hoping and praying like everyone else that he was going to come down with the football and Barrett did,” Lake Mary head coach Scott Perry said, via TC Palm. “… We were just going to keep fighting and fighting until the final whistle.”
Vero Beach tried to run out the clock the best they could. The team decided to take a safety with 12 seconds left, and gave the ball back to Lake Mary.
A Vero Beach player is stunned after the FHSAA Class 7A state championship, Dec. 13, 2025, at Pitbull Stadium in Miami. (Crystal Vander Weit/TCPALM/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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It was the first state championship for Lake Mary in its history.
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Gisele Bündchen and her boyfriend, Joaquim Valente, soaked up the sun during a jet skiing date in Florida.
The model and the MMA athlete appeared in good spirits while on the water near their home in Surfside on Saturday.
They both stayed close to each other and sported life vests.
Bündchen, 35, appeared to be wearing a white one-piece bathing suit underneath her vest.
She accessorized with sunglasses and styled her hair in a ponytail.
As for Valente, he sported black swim trunks.
The couple, who have been romantically linked since 2023, enjoyed some quality time together after welcoming a son together in February.
While Bündchen and Valente have shied away from revealing too much about their infant, they recently took him out on a boat ride in September.
At the time, the former Victoria’s Secret model was seen cradling her son while her beau took the wheel.
Valente then adorably held onto their 10-month-old, as Bündchen watched in awe.
The health guru also shared a rare glimpse of her son alongside her 16-year-old son, Benjamin, in October.
The teenager adorably held onto his little brother while playing the piano.
Bündchen shares Benjamin and her daughter Vivian, 13, with her ex-husband, Tom Brady.
The exes were wed from 2009 to 2022.
The former NFL star also shares an 18-year-old son, Jack, with his ex Bridget Moynahan.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) football state championships continued last night down in Miami at Pitbull Stadium as the Raines Vikings upset the Northwestern Bulls for the the Class 3A state championship, provind the most exciting game of the week thus far. Another rematch from last year’s finals pits the American Heritage Patriots versus the Jones Tigers for the Class 4A state championship this afternoon. We preview the sixth of seven FHSAA state championship games as teams begin being crowned as champions of their classifications.
How to Watch American Heritage vs. Jones in Florida 4A state championship game
Date: Saturday, Dec. 13
Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
Location: Pitbull Stadium in Miami, Fla.
TV Channel: NFHS Network
American Heritage Players to Watch
QB Leon Strawder: Strawder is making his second consecutive appearance in a state championship game, this time with a different team, however. The senior has thrown for 2,052 yards and 19 touchdowns.
WR Jamar Denson: Of the star-studded wide receiving corps for American Heritage, its Denson who has been Mr. Reliable thus far this season. Throughout the course of the season, Denson has hauled in 69 passes for 991 yards and 15 touchdowns.
WR Jeffar Jean-Noel: The Georgia Tech commit has been the second option behind Denson on offense, with Jean-Noel catching 57 passes for 795 yards and six touchdowns.
LB Dylan Bennett: Anchoring the front seven of the Patriots’ defense is the senior linebacker, who currently leads the team with 61 total tackles, 17 them going for a loss and five sacks.
Jones Players to Watch
QB Dereon Coleman: The Miami signee is as calm as they come in the pocket as the senior quarterback has thrown for 2,749 yards, 28 touchdowns and only three picks this Florida high school football season.
WR Larry Miles: Coleman’s favorite target to throw to is the Nebraska signee as the senior looks to end his high school career with a state crown. Miles has caught 88 passes for 1,111 and 10 touchdowns.
OL Xavier Payne: The 6-foot-7, 275-pound Colorado offensive tackle signee will have the job of making sure Coleman stands upright throughout the afternoon against American Heritage’s pass rush.
EDGE Frederick Ards: The 2027 four-star EDGE rusher for the Tigers has been superb, racking up 73 tackles, 13 for loss and 11 sacks.
Where to Watch the Florida Class 4A state championship on livestream:
You can watch the American Heritage Patriots take on the Jones Tigers starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on NFHS Network.
For Florida high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the Sunshine State, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the high school football excitement across the state of Florida.
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