A nearly 14-foot adult great white shark, the largest male ever to be tagged in the Atlantic Ocean,was recorded last week in the northern areas of the Gulf of St. Lawrence off Newfoundland and Labrador, according to tracking data by OCEARCH.
Contender, weighing at more than 1,600 lbs, was first fitted with a satellite tracker by OCEARCH, a global non-profit organization that researches large marine animals in January, around 72 kilometres off the Florida-Georgia coast.
According to a social media video from Chris Fischer, founder of OCEARCH, the great white has travelled nearly 1,400 kilometres from Cape Cod, Mass., to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in around 73 days, covering an average of 19 kilometres a day.
"A white shark moving into the Gulf of St. Lawrence at this time of year is not unusual at all," Fischer said, adding that very few of the tagged white sharks have shown movement to that part of the Gulf.
Contender's last movements were recorded on Oct. 2, in the form of a "Z-ping" - a location signal that is not strong enough to determine the exact location and is sent only when the shark spends a brief amount of time at the surface.
Researchers have found that great whites like Contender have a wide range of migration patterns, from the eastern Gulf of Mexico to the southern coast of Newfoundland, according to a study from December 2022.
"If we look at the sea surface temperature layer on tracker, it looks like Contender is in an area where the surface water is about 50 F (10 C)," Fischer said.
"What's most likely drawing Contender into this area, is probably the food supply. There are both harbour and gray seals in this area," he added. "There's also an abundance of school fish."
White shark sightings are rare in the eastern North Atlantic, according to OCEARCH's 2024 annual report. But there have been confirmed sightings in the Bay of Biscay along the Spanish and French coasts, in addition to credible sightings near the southern and northern areas of the U.K.
Researchers believe these are a part of the Mediterranean shark population who may be foraging for tuna and seals in the North Atlantic waters.