Are there whale sharks

In a tagging study conducted in the southern GOM, Hueter et al. Ketchum et al. There are several possible explanations for ontogenetic shifts in habitat use, including thermoregulatory behavior, reproductive requirements in females, and changes in diet Hueter et al.

Hearn et al. Since most whale shark aggregations occur in coastal waters Rowat and Brooks, this use of more offshore waters by adults would explain why immature sharks dominate the aggregations.

This use of shallower continental shelf habitat for juvenile whale sharks is not exclusive as several studies, including the current study, have reported juveniles to use offshore waters as well Hsu et al. Additional tracking and dietary studies on juvenile and adult whale sharks will be instrumental in better describing stage-specific movement patterns. Using sightings reports, satellite telemetry and spatial analyses, our study revealed that whale sharks not only occupy continental shelf and slope waters, but also used open ocean waters of the GOM.

This increased use of open ocean waters was presumably related to broad scale movements to other regions of the GOM and exploitation of ephemeral hotspots of productivity, such as convergence zones, the edge of the Loop Current, and associated ACE, for foraging opportunities.

Although the location of the Loop Current can vary on short time scales e. Even though ACEs are often associated with low productivity i. While our understanding of the influence of ACEs on whale sharks is limited, these features appear to provide enhanced foraging opportunities in the otherwise oligotrophic open ocean environment for at least two species: the blue shark, Prionace glauca , and the white shark, Carcharodon carcharias Gaube et al.

Additionally, reef manta rays, Manta alfredi , have been shown to exploit mesoscale eddies in offshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef for foraging purposes and further corroborate the importance of these spatially explicit features to highly migratory species Jaine et al. Another large filter feeding elasmobranch, the basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus , is known to forage along thermal fronts and actively select the most profitable plankton patches Sims and Quayle, and make large horizontal movements to discrete productivity hotspots along shelf edge habitats Sims et al.

There are also several examples of whale sharks using mesoscale features for foraging while in the offshore environment, including boundary currents in the northern Pacific Ocean Hsu et al. These mesoscale features, like convergence zones and ACEs, could prove to be critical habitat for whale sharks in offshore waters of the GOM.

Further study of this association with open ocean mesoscale features is warranted, specifically using habitat modeling to explore the relationship between environmental variables and more accurate tracking locations using satellite-linked tags i. Prior to this study, whale sharks were known to form large aggregations at continental shelf edge banks during summer in the northern GOM Hoffmayer et al.

During other seasons, the overall trend in habitat use was characterized by southerly movements into offshore waters of the central and southern GOM during late fall and early winter, and northerly movements back to the northern GOM during late winter and spring. Much of their time spent in open ocean waters was linked to the edge of the Loop Current and associated mesoscale features for foraging opportunities.

Although several long-term satellite tracks were presented in the study, there was no evidence of any individual leaving the GOM or visiting the Yucatan Peninsula aggregation site. However, the three long-term tracked whale sharks exhibited interannual site fidelity, returning to the vicinity of the Ewing Bank aggregation site one year after tagging.

This combined with their tendency to spend a significant amount of time in surface waters makes whale sharks susceptible to ship strikes and gear entanglement from commercial shipping traffic and energy and mineral development in the region. In addition, the impacts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the GOM whale shark population remain largely unknown.

Therefore, establishing protections for whale sharks in the GOM and greater Atlantic region would be beneficial to their population. Additionally, the broad-scale GOM-wide movements observed in this study demonstrate multi-national, cooperative efforts are required to properly manage whale sharks in the region. Longer-term satellite telemetry and multi-year tracking data are needed to further our understanding of whale shark movement ecology in the region and will provide the foundation for future management practices.

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. EH led the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. We wish to thank B. Schumaker of On Wings of Care for endless hours searching for whale sharks over the Gulf of Mexico and the associated group of experienced spotters, including T.

Collins, D. Abrams, M. Sturdivant, J. Moran, G. Gray, and J. Dempster, J. Higgs, A. Fogg, S. Ashworth, and C. Sweat, P. Kent, and C. Marshall, and colleagues E. Hickerson, M. Nuttall, and G. Finally, we are indebted to the following individuals who were instrumental in supporting this research including J.

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Choose one-off donation Prefer a monthly donation? Top 5 facts about whale sharks Fight for your world. More animal facts.

They're not whales, but the world's largest fish These huge creatures can grow up to 12 metres long. Eating is laborious work Whale sharks are filter feeders and can neither bite nor chew.

But moving is slow going, as they move at speeds of little more than 3 miles per hour. Mafia Island, Tanzania. Join the fight.