Holidaymakers have been warned that the world’s biggest male great white shark may be making his way to a popular tourist hot spot.
Named ‘Contender’ after a popular boat brand, a marine research company has registered a ‘ping’ for him off the coast of the US’ Nantucket, Massachusetts.
A ping basically means that the tag OCEARCH attached to the shark’s dorsal fin was spotted above the water’s surface for a brief moment.
Said to be the biggest male great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, Contender is tipped as the ‘ultimate ocean warrior’ and was tagged off the coast of the Florida-Georgia border back on 17 January this year.
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Scientists measured in the absolute whopper fish at a mighty 13ft 9inches and is said to weigh 1,653lbs.
And all those pounds of predator are now feared to be heading towards the holiday spot of Martha’s Vineyard.
This isn’t an island popular with just any tourists either, it’s popular with the wealthier, often famous lot. Former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are said to visit every summer.
Oprah Winfrey is also said to holiday there regularly, with the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, Leonardo DiCaprio, Spike Lee and Stephen Spielberg all spotted visiting Martha’s Vineyard.
Well, if he carries on the way people fear, perhaps Contender is going to join the list of names of visitors.
He’s not pinged on the shark tracking site since Friday (18 July) though, so perhaps he’s decided to change course and make different holiday plans for the summer.
OCEARCH are able to track the shark thanks to the ‘SPOT’ tag they deployed on him, with six people needed to get it on him in the first place.
The research group said at the time that this tag can ‘provide valuable real-time data for approximately five years’ and help to track his movements and understand his migration patterns.
A previous social media post from OCEARCH read: “Contender is the largest male white shark ever caught, SPOT tagged, released and now studied in the NW Atlantic white shark population!”
It’s believed Contender is just over 30 years old. The life span of a great white shark typically tends to be between 30 and 40 years old but it’s been reported that some can live past 70.
Since he was tagged at the start of the year, the shark’s location has pinged more than 40 times.
Jess Battison