Lucy Devine
Scientists have revealed that a huge great white shark has resurfaced at a tourist hotspot in North Carolina.
The 14ft shark, named Breton, was first tagged in September 2020 by OCEARCH, who have been tracking the gigantic fish to understand more about where great whites mate.
In January 2025, he was tracked to Daytona Beach in Florida, after being located in Nova Scotia, Canada, back in 2020.
His latest location has led scientists to believe that Breton could be following a new route which changes the assumptions that experts have held for decades.
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Instead of traveling along a north-eastern route along the US coast, he has looped offshore, popping up in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, just days ago on December 28.
Chris Fischer, founder and expedition leader of OCEARCH, said: "When he migrates down south and north, he often loops way offshore and does not go along any portion of the north-eastern United States.
"We're seeing more and more of these animals that are in the south-eastern United States are just not part of the white sharks that go to New England or the north-eastern US.
"As we move into the middle of the winter and we start heading into the late winter and early spring, it'll be very interesting to see where Breton is located.
"That could be a tip toward where big mature animals are coming together to potentially give us clues on their reproductive cycle."
It's thought that great whites spend winter and spring in south-eastern US before traveling to Canada for summer and fall.
"Atlantic Canada is the primary summer and fall range of our white shark population off the East Coast of the United States," he added.
With Breton's behaviour 'flipping upside down' previous assumptions, Fischer believes that Breton could provide some huge clues about white shark reproduction.
"Hopefully, he'll be giving us a tip, and we'll see his track colliding with other mature males and mature females in the same region in the coming months," Fischer said.
"That would be an enormous piece of data to be able to gather. So time will tell."
Breton has certainly done some growing since he was first tagged in 2020, weighing in at over 1,400 pounds and measuring 13ft 3in.
"We're looking at it five years later now, probably looking at a 14-foot-plus animal that's put on a lot of weight as a big, mature male," said Fischer.