1,600-pound shark swimming in deep waters off Myrtle Beach and Wilmington coast

Contender, a 13-foot-9-inch, 1,653-pound White Shark, is traveling in deep waters off the coast of Myrtle Beach and Wilmington.

Ocearch scientists tagged the mammoth male shark in January 2025 off the coast of Florida and Georgia. He is the largest Ocearch-tagged shark in the Western North Atlantic, according to a Facebook post.

Contender had pinged closer to Georgia’s coast in mid-March, but shot out to deep waters toward the end of the month.

“This sudden movement could be to forage in deeper waters, but we cannot rule out the possibility that it’s related to reproduction at this time of year,” Ocearch senior data scientist John Tyminski said in the post.

Contender, named after a longtime Ocearch partner Contender Boats, first appeared off the coast of the Carolinas last May. He has since traveled north to the waters of Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Quebec, down to the coast of Vero Beach, Florida, and back to the Carolinas.

He’s traveled over 6,800 miles since being tagged. (A round trip by car from Los Angeles to New York and back is 5,600 miles.)

Ocearch tracks mainly sharks and sea turtles, but has also tagged seals, alligators and dolphins in the past. Every ping helps Ocearch scientists study migratory patterns and potential breeding areas.