Overview
- On Nov. 12, Contender pinged several miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, after late-October signals around Nova Scotia and a late-September reach to waters near Newfoundland.
- The nearly 14-foot, roughly 1,653-pound male was tagged in January near the Florida–Georgia border and has traveled more than 4,300 miles along the Atlantic coast.
- OCEARCH notes pings register only when the dorsal fin breaks the surface under an Argos satellite, so gaps in data can reflect behavior or coverage rather than a problem.
- Scientists are tracking his fall return to warmer waters to test hypotheses about building winter fat reserves and to watch seasonal locations for clues to potential mating sites.
- Other tagged sharks are also moving south—OCEARCH reports the female white shark Ernest in the Florida Keys—with real-time data available via its Global Shark Tracker and multi-year tags.