Largest Great White Shark Visits Ocean City, New Jersey

Contender is a pretty ominous name for a pretty ominous shark.

Contender is the largest male great white shark ever tagged by Ocearch, the marine research organization.

She's paying a visit now just off the beaches of South Jersey!

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Ocearch.org

Great White Shark Contender Pings Off Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey

Contender was 13' 9" inches long and weighed a massive 1653 pounds when he was first tagged in January 2025. He's probably a lot bigger now.

Last night (November 6, 2026) Contender pinged just off both Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey.

Ocearch reports that Contender's location at 11:06pm was 9 miles south of Atlantic City.

Amazingly, almost one year ago - November 12, 2025 - Contender pinged at almost the exact same location!

DigtialStorm

Part of the Migration South

Ocearch says the shark is once again migrating south for the season - and "Comparing his movement from one season to the next gives scientists another opportunity to learn more about his migration patterns and behavior."

Contender, like many white sharks, had been up in the North Atlantic for the summer - off the coast of Canada.

In addition to sharks, there have been many recent reports of whales spotted off the South Jersey Coast.

(And your parents are probably talking about making their annual migration down to Florida for the winter....)

SOURCE: Ocearch.org