Massive great white shark pings near New Jersey after visiting Canada
The largest male great white shark to be tagged in the Atlantic by the research group OCEARCH has reemerged in waters off the coast of southern New Jersey, the organization said.
When the group tagged the nearly 14-foot-long predator, named Contender, in January, he was swimming near the Florida-Georgia border. He has traveled over 4,300 miles since then. Contender was tracked "making moves" up the Atlantic Coast over the summer before reaching waters near Newfoundland, Canada, in late September.
In late October, Contender started to move south. His tracker pinged multiple times as he traveled around Nova Scotia. On Nov. 12, it showed that Contender had reached New Jersey waters. As of Tuesday night, the 1,650-pound shark was off the coast of Atlantic City.
Contender isn't the only OCEARCH-tagged shark traveling south. The group said on Instagram that Ernst, a female white shark, was making "big moves" and had reached the Florida Keys after having been last seen near the Florida-Georgia border. OCEARCH tagged Ernst, who is 12 feet long and weighs about 1,000 pounds, during an expedition to Nova Scotia in October, according to her tracking data.
OCEARCH tracking data shows other shark species, including tiger sharks, white sharks and hammerheads, moving along the Atlantic coast.
Great whites in the Atlantic tend to spend the summer in cooler, prey-dense northern waters, then migrate south to warmer temperatures, OCEARCH said on Instagram. Sightings of sharks, including great whites, were up in waters off Maine and Canada this year, leading to some beach closures and warnings. Human-shark interactions remained rare, CBS News previously reported. Scientists have previously noted an increase in great white sharks in the Atlantic.
OCEARCH follows the sharks to learn more about their habits and behaviors. Each tag reports data for about five years, according to the group. The tracking data is available online.
"Each ping adds another clue to the puzzle of white shark migration—and our team is tracking every move," the group wrote on Instagram.