Hey everyone! Today marks the first day of Shark Week! Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I live every day like it’s shark week, but regardless it’s nice seeing our toothy fish friends getting the media attention they deserve.
I personally have a lot #opinions about Shark Week and why sometimes it isn’t…the greatest. Like how they have lied to scientists to get them to participate in fake documentaries, how they tend to characterize sharks as “man-eaters” or “killing machines,” and how they only seem to focus on White Sharks (and sometimes Tigers, Bulls, and Hammerheads if we’re lucky) when there are over 400 known species of shark! And maybe you’re saying “But Courtney, I looooove watching Shark Week. I need me a week of non-stop sharky action on my TV.” Never fear, it is possible to watch Shark Week (and Shark Fest over on NatGeo Wild) like a scientist!
In honor of these truly awesome fishes, I’m going to have my own shark week here to give some of the lesser-talked-about (on Shark Week at least) the recognition they deserve.
So, without further delay, let’s start this week off with the big one:
Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)
The Whale Shark is the largest species of shark, and is the largest fish on the planet, growing up to 12 meters and weighing up to 21 tonnes. Despite their large size, they are very docile, and pose no threat to divers. They’re a long-lived species, reaching sexual maturity at about 30 years, and potentially living up to 70 years of age. They’re typically a solitary species, but are known to form groups when feeding conditions are particularly good. Female whale sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning that eggs are carried inside the female until she gives live birth to them. One pregnant female caught had 300 pups inside her. They belong to the “carpet shark” order Orectolobiformes, and their close relatives include the Zebra Shark, Wobbegongs, and Nurse Sharks.
These giants are filter feeders, and are one of only three known species of shark that do so. Their diet is made up of zooplankton- tiny animals that float in the water column and drift with currents. They have tiny, specialized teeth (pictured below) that, along with their gill rakers, allow them to filter these tiny organisms out of the water.
Whale Sharks are ocean wanders, inhabiting tropical and subtropical waters around the globe. Though they mostly live in the open-ocean, they do form seasonal feeding aggregations in shallower waters. Whale Shark feeding hot spots include: St. Helena Island in the south Atlantic, Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Northern Gulf of Mexico, the Galapagos, the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea, and near Tofo, Mozambique, which is where I snapped the two pictures of this juvenile male below.
Recent studies have suggested that whale sharks spend different portions of lives in different parts of the world. For instance, most of the whale sharks seen near Mozambique are juvenile males, whereas most of the whale sharks that frequent St. Helena Island and the Galapagos are adult females.
Whale Sharks have recently had their conservation status updated to ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. Presently, their biggest threats are fisheries bycatch, entanglement in fishing gear, and ship strikes. There are also a few targeted fisheries for whale sharks in Yemen and Taiwan.
Diving with Whale Sharks has become increasingly popular, and when done responsibly, can be an effective way to raise awareness of this species’ threats and why it’s important to protect them. Want to learn more and donate to fund Whale Shark research, conservation, and education? Check out the Marine Megafauna Foundation.
