Largest male great white shark ever recorded off of coast of U.S. state
In this DML Report…
The largest male great white shark ever recorded, named Contender, was pinged off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Measuring 13 feet in length and weighing 1,653 pounds, the shark is estimated to be about 32 years old. It is being tracked by the organization OCEARCH, which monitors shark movements to study migration patterns in the Western North Atlantic.
Contender was tagged in January off the Florida/Georgia coastline. Since then, it has migrated northward along the East Coast into Canada. From April to mid-June, it was pinged off the Outer Banks in North Carolina, including approximately 22 miles off Cape Hatteras in June. In mid-July, it was detected off the coast of Massachusetts. After a period without pings, it was tracked in late September south of Pointe-Parent in Quebec, and from October 27 to 29, multiple pings showed it moving south from Canada back toward the United States.
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The shark is now heading south toward warmer waters and food sources in Florida. OCEARCH stated that each ping provides additional data on white shark migration, with their team monitoring all movements. Pings occur when the shark's dorsal fin breaks the water surface near an Argos satellite.