VIDEO — ‘Ultimate Ocean Warrior’: Biggest Great White Shark Ever Tagged in Atlantic Nears NC Coast
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The largest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic has surfaced off Pamlico Sound in North Carolina after disappearing for almost a month.
The shark, named Contender, measures 13 feet, 9 inches and weighs a whopping 1,653 pounds. OCEARCH researchers tagged him in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in January when he was spotted near the Florida-Georgia coast, the New York Post reported on Thursday.
However, after he disappeared in the depths for almost a month, his tracker resurfaced near the North Carolina coast last week. “This stopover is believed to be a critical feeding period, allowing him to build energy reserves, for what may be a journey of 1,000 miles or more,” the outlet said.
OCEARCH posted video footage of Contender in February and explained how he was tagged:
“The SPOT tag deployed on Contender will provide valuable real-time data for approximately five years, helping us track his movements and understand his migration patterns,” the research organization said. “Additionally, we’ve collected important biological samples, including urogenital material, which are currently being analyzed.”
The OCEARCH website called the mature male great white shark “the ultimate ocean warrior” and the site features a map of his movements.
Dr. Harley Newton, OCEARCH’s chief scientist and veterinarian, said, “This time of year white sharks are starting their late spring/early summer migration (May 16 to June 30) moving from their southern overwintering area to their summer/fall foraging areas in the northeastern US and Atlantic Canada.”
Newton added, “We often see the sharks on our global shark tracker spend a period of time off the Outer Banks right before they move north, which is what white shark Contender appears to be doing.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the great white shark is a predator who is at the top of the food chain and “plays an important ecological role in the oceans”:
It is also an iconic species due to its occurrence in near-shore habitats and frequent appearance in films and documentaries. But despite its fearsome reputation, its large size and low productivity (reproductive rates, growth rates, age at maturity, longevity, etc.) make the white shark vulnerable to declines from human impacts. Due to these natural vulnerabilities, the white shark is one of the most widely protected sharks globally.
Researchers have estimated that Contender is about 30 years old, per the Post.
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