Massive Shark Measuring Nearly 14 Feet Long Becomes Largest Male Great White Tagged by Researchers

Mar. 15, 2025

The massive apex predator known as Contender is the largest that has “ever caught, SPOT tagged, released and now studied in the NW Atlantic shark population,” Ocearch, a global non-profit that tracks sharks and other sea life in real time, confirmed onInstagramon Wednesday, Feb. 5.

First discovered 45 miles off the Georgia-Florida coast on Jan. 17, Contender is 13 feet, 8 inches long and weighs 1,652.8 lbs, Ocearch previously reported onInstagramon Jan. 27. At the time, the organization said, “Contender will provide valuable real-time data for approximately five years, helping us track his movements and understand his migration patterns.”

Contender the great white shark.Ocearch via Storyful

Ocearch via Storyful

Ocearch also shared that this amazing shark’s moniker was “in honor of Contender Boats, a longtime OCEARCH partner, whose industry-leading sport fishing and pleasure boats enable our research missions.”

Since Jan. 17, the shark’s tag has made several pings in the Atlantic Ocean along the coastline, with him popping up in the waters off of Oak Hill, Fla. on Feb. 9, according toOsearch’s tracking site. Contender has been “zig-zagging 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 before heading to Brevard County waters,“Florida Todayreported.

His latest ping was on Feb. 10, far off the coast of Merritt Island, where the John F. Kennedy Space Center is located. PerFlorida Today, Monday’s ping occurred just one day before a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 11.

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While Contender has set new records, especially among the NW Atlantic shark population, he’s still a few feet shy of Deep Blue, a female great white reportedly measuring nearly 20 feet long first discovered in 2013, according toNewsweek.

She later garnered media attention in 2018 and was the subject of a 2019 National Geographic Wild documentaryWorld’s Biggest Great White? Expedition Hawaii, which captured the sea creature eating a sperm whale off the coast of Oahu.

source: people.com