The colossal shark is said to have almost equalled the feat of the biggest ever to grace the Atlantic and has been described as ‘super important’ after it made its unexpected visit
12:27, 15 Dec 2025Updated 12:30, 15 Dec 2025
The shark was spotted near New York(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
On Wednesday, an extraordinary discovery was made when a great white shark was spotted venturing across the New York-New Jersey coastline.
The beast named ‘Goodall’ named in honour of Dr Jane Goodall, an influential pioneer in wildlife, registered a signal on December 10, which indicated a size over 13ft, whilst weighing 1,400lbs. Back in January 2025, eyebrows were raised at the appearance of ‘Contender’, a 14ft shark which swam off Florida’s east coast; however, it appears to have met its match.
Founder of marine research charity OCEARCH, Chris Fischer, says that Goodall could be a breakthrough in the examination of great whites’ breeding behaviour.
The unexpected visitor was spotted off the coast of New York(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
Fischer said: “This is a super important shark because this is a mature female white shark coming in at about 1,400 lbs, a little over 13ft long”.
With this discovery, it helps scientists continue to monitor the hormone levels in adult sharks, potentially leading to the key mating periods and sites that involve mating.
Fischer continued: “Obviously, these big mature females have an opportunity to help us with a number of things when it comes to deciphering the puzzle of these apex predators’ lives.”
Although nothing is set in stone yet, researchers believe that the coastline where Goodall was spotted has helped decipher where the pups are being born, but where the breeding takes place is still a mystery.
The massive female shark is named “Goodall'(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
With the answer still undiscovered, Fischer spoke about how northern waters and newborn sharks go hand in hand.
“We’ve tagged the young of the year up there in that general region,” he said. “It’s a perfect place to drop off your pups because they come out, they’re on their own, and they’re covered up with just acres of menhaden and mackerel and squid and rays.”
Fischer claimed that it’s the ‘perfect place’ for the breed, and the ocean explorer explained how they are looking to ‘crack the mystery’ of mating.
“OCEARCH scientists are gathering blood samples from mature sharks throughout the year to monitor hormone levels. By observing estrogen peaks in females and testosterone levels in males, researchers aim to identify when breeding takes place.”
The founder of OCEARCH continued by saying: “We’re trying to get samples from across the year from these big females so we can measure their hormone levels and understand when their peak estrogen levels are and the peak testosterone in the males.”
She measures in at a whopping 13ft(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
There is hope that the ‘hormonal cycle’ of these sharks can lead scientists in the ‘right direction’ of their research and claimed that their work will be at its peak during the height of breeding season, during February, March, and April.
With this research comes the tricky task of finding the likes of Goodall, and Fischer made it clear how vital their work is.
“The big thing with Goodall and the other mature females and mature males is to really keep an eye on them over the coming months to see if, rather than them being randomly spread out, they might come together kind of in a similar region,” he said.
“Discovering mature female great whites like Goodall is exceptionally difficult, making every sighting scientifically precious.”
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