The newest location pings from Contender, the biggest grownup male white shark tagged within the Atlantic, are serving to scientists to know attainable causes for shark migration patterns.
OCEARCH tagged Contender in January 2025 off the Florida/Georgia coast.
Since then, his location has been marked by satellite tv for pc pings as he strikes and migrates throughout the yr.
On Wednesday, April 1, Contender was pinged previous the Gulf Stream deep off the coast of Georgia.
OCEARCH scientists mentioned his latest actions from close to the coast of Florida to quickly transferring out into deeper waters could possibly be an indication of breeding.
“This sudden motion could possibly be to forage in deeper waters, however we can’t rule out the chance that it’s associated to replica right now of yr,” mentioned OCEARCH Senior Knowledge Scientist John Tyminski.
OCEARCH mentioned these tendencies are widespread amongst mature male white sharks like Contender and Breton.
Since his tag on Wednesday, Contender has moved again nearer to the Georgia coast, nonetheless in deeper waters, however simply on the sting of the Gulf Stream.
Clocking in at almost 14 toes lengthy and roughly 1,650 kilos on the time of his tagging, Contender is OCEARCH’s largest male white shark ever tagged within the Atlantic.
His actions have taken him throughout the East Coast of the US, and up into Canada.
OCEARCH is a worldwide nonprofit group devoted to researching and defending sharks, whales, sea turtles and different ocean life, tagging these animals to trace and examine their migration habits and behaviors from afar.
