Colossal white shark tagged by OCEARCH, frequent Florida visitor, pings in rare location

• A great white shark named Contender is the largest male ever tagged by the research group OCEARCH.
• Contender was tagged off the Georgia-Florida border and has since traveled over 3,200 miles.
• The shark recently pinged in a rare location in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.
• OCEARCH is a nonprofit organization that tags and tracks sharks to gather data for scientific research.

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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