Shark known as ‘ultimate ocean warrior’ is off North Carolina, tracking reveals

One of the largest great white sharks tagged by scientists along the East Coast is lingering off North Carolina for reasons that aren’t quite clear, according to a tracker fitted to its dorsal fin.

The 13-foot, 9-inch shark, known as Contender, entered North Carolina waters on Saturday, Feb. 7, and is currently 45 miles off Cape Fear, east of Wilmington, the shark research agency OCEARCH reported in a Feb. 9 social media post.

“The ultimate ocean warrior ... this powerful white shark was tagged on January 17, 2025, off the FL/GA coast,” the nonprofit says.

“Contender is the largest male white shark ever tagged by OCEARCH in the Western North Atlantic, weighing nearly 1,700 lbs. He spent much of January cruising Florida’s coastline.”

For comparison, Contender weighs more than a classic Volkswagen Beetle (1,600 pounds) and is about the length of your average utility trailer (about 14 feet long).

Great white sharks can reach 20 feet in length, but OCEARCH has yet to tag a male that big in the North Atlantic. A 17-foot, 3,541 female was tagged in 2020 off Nova Scotia, but she vanished 191 days later near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, data shows.

Contender has traveled around 5,800 miles since being tagged, from Vero Beach, Florida, to Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence. It appears he is partial to the coastline between Florida and South Carolina, based on how often his tracker shows up in that region.

Studies of great white sharks off the East Coast show they migrate south from Canada in the winter, to warmer waters off the southeastern United States.

It is suspected white shark mating could be taking place between North Carolina and North Florida from late winter to early summer, but OCEARCH is still searching for definitive proof.

“Tracking the movements of mature males like Contender and mature females like Goodall can give us extra insight into where shark mating grounds might be,” OCEARCH Senior Data Scientist John Tyminski wrote in a Feb. 12 Facebook post.

OCEARCH is currently tracking five great white sharks between Wilmington, N.C., and Hilton Head, South Carolina, Ocearch.org reports.

This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 1:12 PM.