| whale shark dance

| whale shark dance

Distribution and habitat

 

The whale shark inhabits most tropical and warm-temperate oceans. The fish is mainly pelagic, living in the open up sea but not in the better depths of the ocean, though it is known to occasionally dive to depths of as much as you, 800 metres (5, 900 ft).|17| Temporary feeding aggregations occur at several coastal sites such as the southern and eastern elements of South Africa; Saint Helena Isle in the South Atlantic Water; Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti, Gladden Spit in Belize; Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia; Kerala|18|, Lakshadweep, Gulf of Kutch and Saurashtra coast of Gujarat in India;|19| Útila in Honduras; Southern Leyte; Donsol, Pasacao and Batangas in the Philippines; off Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox in Yucatan and Bahía de los Ángeles in Baja California, México; Maamigili island, Maldives; Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia; Cenderawasih Bay Country wide Park in Nabire, Papua, Indonesia; Flores Island, Philippines; Nosy Be in Madagascar; off Tofo Beach near Inhambane in Mozambique; the Tanzanian islands of Mafia, Pemba, Zanzibar; Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti, the Advertisement Dimaniyat Islands in the Gulf of mexico of Oman and Way Hallaniyat islands in the Arabian Sea; and, very rarely, Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, The nike jordan. Although typically seen precisely what is, it has been found closer to property, entering lagoons or coral atolls, and near the mouths of estuaries and streams. Its range is generally limited to about 30° latitude. It is capable of diving to depths of at least 1, 286 m (4, 219 ft),|20| and is migratory.|9| On 7 February 2012, a large whale shark was found floating 150 kilometres (93 mi) off the coastline of Karachi, Pakistan. The length of the specimen was said to be between 11 and doze m (36 and 39 ft), with a weight of around 15, 000 kilogram (33, 000 lb).|21|

 

 

 

In 2011, more than 400 whale sharks gathered off the Yucatan Coast. It was one of the major gatherings of whale sharks recorded.|22| Aggregations in that area are one of the most reliable seasonal gatherings reputed for whale sharks, with thousands and thousands occurring in most years among May and September. Connected ecotourism has grown rapidly to unsustainable levels.|23|

Neither of them mating nor pupping of whale sharks has been observed.

 

The capture of a girl in July 1996 that was pregnant with three hundred pups indicated whale fishes are ovoviviparous.|9||24||25| The eggs remain in the body and the females give birth to live adolescent which are 40 to 70 cm (16 to twenty-four in) long. Evidence signifies the pups are not most born at once, but rather the female retains sperm from one mating and produces a steady stream of pups over a continuous period.|26| They will reach sexual maturity in around 30 years and their lifetime is an estimated 70|9| to 100 years.|27|

 

On 7 March 2009, marine scientists in the Philippines discovered what is believed to be the smallest living specimen of the whale shark. The young shark, measuring only 38 centimeter (15 in), was located with its tail tied to a stake at a beach front in Pilar, Sorsogon, Philippines, and was released into the wild. Based on this discovery, a few scientists no longer believe this place is just a feeding ground; this great site may be a birthing ground, as well. Both young whale sharks and pregnant females have been seen in the seas of Saint Helena inside the South Atlantic Ocean, in which numerous whale sharks can be spotted during the summer.

The whale shark is a filtration feeder - one of only three known filter-feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on plankton including copepods, krill, fish eggs, Christmas Island red crab larvae |30| and small nektonic life, such as small squid or fish. It also enters on clouds of ova during mass spawning of fish and corals.|31| The many rows of vestigial teeth play no part in feeding. Feeding happens either by ram filtration, in which the animal opens the mouth and swims frontward, pushing water and foodstuff into the mouth, or by lively suction feeding, in which the creature opens and closes it is mouth, sucking in sizes of water that are in that case expelled through the gills. In both cases, the filtration pads serve to separate meals from water. These one of a kind, black sieve-like structures will be presumed to be modified gill rakers. Food separation in whale sharks is by cross-flow filtration, in which the water travels nearly parallel to the filtration pad surface, not perpendicularly through it, before completing to the outside, while denser food particles continue to the back with the throat.|32| This is an extremely efficient filtration method that minimizes fouling on the filter pad surface. Whale sharks have been observed "coughing", presumably to clear a build-up of particles from the filtration system pads. Whale sharks move to feed and possibly to breed.

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