A great white shark weighing 1,653 pounds was recently detected about 50 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Research group OCEARCH says "Contender" is the largest white shark it's ever tagged in the western North Atlantic Ocean. 

At nearly 14 feet long, OCEARCH calls Contender "a true ocean giant." The latest ping from Contender came on Friday in the waters east of Massachusetts, between Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank. 

Researchers have been tracking the adult male since January 2025 when they tagged Contender and took biological samples from him off the coast of Georgia. From there, he traveled down to Florida before heading up to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He had last been pinged off the coast of Cape Hatteras in early June.

OCEARCH said at the time he was likely headed to the "cooler and more prey-dense waters" of the northeast and Canada. 

Shark season has been underway in Massachusetts since May when a great white was seen hunting a seal on a Nantucket beach. On Memorial Day, a 20-foot shark that has invited "Jaws" comparisons was caught on camera swimming around Rhode Island's Block Island. And up in Maine, beachgoers and swimmers are urged to be cautious after two documented sightings of great whites off Bailey Island in Casco Bay.

The tag placed on Contender will allow OCEARCH to track him for about five years. Researchers are hoping it will help them learn more about the migration patterns of great whites. 

to see the latest pings for Contender and the location of other sharks tagged by OCEARCH.

• Nantucket News