Massive shark found off the coast of Canada before heading “back down to Florida for the oncoming winter”

Scientists have been following the movements of Contender, the biggest great white shark ever tagged in the Atlantic, since January. OCEARCH, a marine research non‑profit, found and placed a tracker on the dorsal fin of the massive male great white shark off the Florida–Georgia coast near Jacksonville.

The mammoth fish, measuring 14 feet in length and weighing in at 1,653 pounds, has surprised researchers by appearing just off the coast of Canada in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, right off the Labrador Peninsula. That is one of the northernmost reaches of these apex predators ever recorded.

Contender putting on weight gorging on seals

The reason why Contender made his way so far north is not much of a mystery. The waters where he is currently roaming have plenty of great whites’ favorite food, seals. Contender is gorging on the blubbery mammals to fatten up before heading back south to Florida for the winter.

His presence off the coast of Canada is providing an environmental benefit by putting pressure on the seal population. In that sense he and the other great whites in the area are “guarding” the fish from the seals according to Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader of OCEARCH.

“We know that if the white sharks are in front of the seals putting pressure on them, they eat one-fourth as much per day,” he explained. “If that white shark’s not there, those seals go out and they wipe out all the fish.”

Scientists hope Contender will reveal long-sought mystery

This summer researchers confirmed the existence of a great white nursery just off the coast of New York City, one of only three known to exist in the world, but there has been one nagging question that has eluded them. Where do they mate?

Scientists at OCEARCH are hoping that Contender, estimated to be between 30 and 35 years old, will reveal the secret of that a mystery to them. Great whites become mature adults when they are 26 years old and grow to 11.5 feet, so Contender is early in his reproductive life.

“I want to know where Contender will be in March of 2026, in April of 2026. I think that could be a massive clue for identifying where they mate,” said Fischer.

“He is an important part of the effective breeding population and will hopefully contribute to the rebuilding of the western North Atlantic white shark population,” Dr. Harley Newton, OCEARCH’s chief scientist and veterinarian, told USA TODAY.

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