The largest male great white shark being studied in the Northwest Atlantic was caught and tagged along the Florida coast on Jan. 17, according to o the OCEARCH Shark Tracker.
Officials said that “Contender” – a massive 13.8 white shark weighing around 1,653 pounds – was caught, tagged and released “On the Waterfront” near the Florida/Georgia line. Actually, he was caught 45 miles offshore, but I couldn’t resist a Hollywood pun.
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As of Saturday at 11:20 a.m., Contender was lurking off of the coast of Daytona Beach, the closest he has been to shore since he was tagged.
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OCEARCH said the shark was named after Contender Boats, “a longtime OCEARCH partner, whose industry-leading sport fishing and pleasure boats enable our research missions.”
On Jan. 11, “Breton” – another great white shark weighing over 1,400 pounds – was pinged off of the coast of Volusia County.
And on Jan. 4, “Bob” – a 1,300 pound great white – pinged even closer to shore near Brevard County.
According to OCEARCH, the great whites make their way down the east coast of the U.S. in the fall “with many heading towards the warmer waters off the southeastern U.S., particularly around the Carolinas, Georgia, and northeast Florida where they spend part of the winter.”
The organization has tagged over 400 different animals, including multiple different species of sharks, sea turtles and whales.
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