A 14-foot-long, 1,600-pound great white shark named Contender has been detected off Florida’s coast… again.
Marine researchers say the largest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean has recently returned after disappearing for a while. This particular great white must have a winter home in Florida.
ClickOrlando reports that Contender was first tagged by the nonprofit research group OCEARCH in January of 2025, about 45 miles off the Florida-Georgia coastline. After that, he made like all the rest of the snowbirds and headed back north, cruising all the way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Canada as of this past October.
This week, tracking data shows that he’s back in Florida waters, after having been detected swimming south past Daytona Beach and lingering offshore near the small coastal city of Sebastian.
One of the Largest Great White Sharks Ever Recorded Is Hanging Around Florida
The rapid-fire string of Australian shark attacks should not cause alarm in this case, as wildlife officials say there isn’t really much reason to be afraid. Florida sharks regularly migrate north and warmer months and South when temperatures drop.
It’s a predictable cycle that overlaps with peak beach season, which explains why shark sightings increase between April and October. They are literally more visible because they are all over the place, all while attacks from those sharks remain so low that the chances of getting bitten are statistically quite low.
Yes, Volusia County has picked up the annoying title of “Shark Bite Capital of the World,” but despite that, confirmed attacks each year remain extremely rare. Just over 350 incidents have been recorded since 1882. Humans kill around 100 million sharks around the world every year. We are more of a danger to them than they are to us.
Contender is going to bask in the slightly warmer waters of Central Florida for only a short while before heading up north again in a few weeks. Until then, like every other Canadian Snowbird, he’s going to dine on some fresh seafood, maybe play a few rounds of golf, catch some rays.
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