A great white shark last seen about 64 miles off Cape Cod was tracked to the northernmost waters of Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence, an uncommon spot according to researchers.
The male shark called Contender is tracked by the research nonprofit OCEARCH, which first tagged him in January off the coast of Florida and Georgia and which tracked him to 64 miles off Cape Cod in July.
On Sept. 29, Contender showed up again on the OCEARCH tracker in the Gulf of St. Lawrence close to the northern shore of Quebec and Anticosti Island.
Contender is 13 feet and 9 inches long and weighs 1,653 pounds and is the largest male great white shark the organization has tracked in the western part of the North Atlantic, OCEARCH Senior Data Scientist John Tyminski said in a social media video on Oct. 4.
To get from the waters off Cape Cod to the northernmost parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Contender swam at least 857 miles in 73 days for an average of 12 miles per day, Mr. Tyminski said.
While it is not uncommon for great white sharks to show up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, most do not go as far north and as close to Quebec’s northern shore as Contender. Mr. Tyminski said that prey populations of seals and fish drew Contender’s attention.
“Only a couple have made it that far north. An animal like that, spending the summer and fall up north – what are they doing? Well, a lot of what they’re doing is preparing for the winter,” OCEARCH founder told U.K. news agency SWNS.
