NANTUCKET (WJAR) — The Great Whites are coming? No they’re actually here.
“Contender,” at 13 feet 9 inches long and over 1,650 pounds, is believed to be the biggest white shark tagged in the Atlantic Ocean by maritime researchers. The large shark is now in New England waters.
Ocearch, a nonprofit ocean research organization, reports it was pinged approximately 50 miles to the east of Nantucket on Friday.
Just like some New Englanders who spend winters in warmer climates, great white sharks split their time between the waters down south in the winter and off New England and Atlantic Canada in the summer.
“Contender,” named after a popular brand of boat, was pinged off the Georgia/Florida border in January.
Ocearch and collaborators published results of a study in 2022 that showed Atlantic white shark migrations follow predictable patterns and that they exhibit “strong site fidelity, with individuals returning to the same location in multiple years.”
Feeding, growing and reproducing are among the reasons believed to drive these predictable migration patterns.