A 1,400-pound great white shark named Breton, famous for turning years of GPS pings into a giant self-portait across the Atlantic, is heading north, trailing a larger group of sharks.
OCEARCH, a shark tracking and protection company, has been tracking Breton since 2020, when he was tagged off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Since then, Breton’s been on a bit of a tour of the east coast and up into Canada, taking a six year trip along the right side of the coast.
Earlier this week, Breton’s tag showed he was about 70 miles off the coast of South Carolina, making him the southernmost tagged shark on OCEARCH’s database. Usually, sharks migrate northwards with the warmer waters.
It’s not known why Breton decided to start heading up with the other sharks but scientists have begun speculating. “Sharks don’t always follow the rulebook,” OCEARCH Senior Data Scientist John Tyminski said after Breton’s brief break off Florida in late July. “Breton’s unexpected journey reminds us that the factors driving white shark movements are complex, and we’re still uncovering the secrets behind these remarkable migrations.”
Breton was named after the place he was tagged at Cape Breton. He is 13 feet, 3 inches long weighing 1,427 pounds and went viral for accidentally mapping a self-portrait of a shark along the east coast with his GPS pings, earning him the esteemed title of the Leonardo Da Vinci of the sea.
Since being tracked, Breton has swam over 50,000 miles from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas. His satellite tag has lasted over five years, providing scientists with rare, long-term migration and deep-dive behavior data.
On the OCEARCH tracker, Breton is larger than many young or medium sharks, though researchers have handled or tracked a few larger great whites reaching up to 17 or 18 feet. So although Breton is big, he’s not the absolute max size for his species.
🦈 Breton’s latest movements have scientists asking one big question…
While most white sharks head north for summer, Breton is swimming south. Every unexpected movement helps unlock new insights into shark behavior. pic.twitter.com/RHWeAGfaZh
— OCEARCH (@OCEARCH) July 23, 2026
Related: Why Great White Sharks Are Suddenly Haunting Safe Coastlines
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