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Where to See Them
Southern African coast the best place is Mozambique especialy Guinjata Bay summer months (End of Oct – Feb)
Known Diet
A Whale Shark is a filter feeder and its main diet consists of plankton, krill but also is known to feed on small fish and squid.
Maximum Size
Whale Sharks can grow
up to 18m+ / 59ft+
Danger to Humans
No risk
Whale Sharks are considered no risk to dive with. Whale Sharks tend to swim on the surface of the water and can be easily spotted. Divers can dive or snorkel alongside the Whale Shark without risk. Divers are instructed not to harass the Whale Shark though because if it feels threatened it will dive down. They are curious sharks and often approach divers to take a close look at them.
Where they roam
Whale Sharks roam Warm temperate to tropical waters. The Whale Shark roams in open ocean and in coastal waters and bays. Whale Sharks can be seen in the Philippines, Seychelles, Australia, USA, Belize, Honduras, Ecuador, Cuba, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Thailand and the Maldives. They have been tracked down to depths of 250m / 820ft
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Whale Shark – Rhincodon typus
The Whale Shark is the largest fish in the ocean. It is considered as the most friendly of sharks and is harmless to humans. Whale Sharks feed on Plankton and small fish and can be easily seen feeding on the surface of the water. The Whale Shark is a slow mover, swimming at approximately 5km/h at top speed. Due to them being slow movers and surface feeders they are extremely easy to catch and are unfortunately still actively fished in the waters off Taiwan. Whale Sharks are fished for their liver oil for waterproofing and their Fins and meat for food as a delicacy.
Whale Sharks have been held successfully in an aquarium in Japan but special conditions and Dietary needs fortunately make it very difficult for most aquariums to house these sharks.
Whale Sharks are massive in size. They can be a brown, blue-grey or dark grey colour with creamy white spots covering its back and a white underside. It has a flat and very wide mouth (1.5m / 5ft) which is used for drawing in up to 1500 gallons of water per hour when feeding. The Whale Shark filters plankton through its Gill Rakers and any fish drawn in are eaten. The Whale Shark is harmless and is very curious and often swims up to divers or snorkellers that are diving in their waters.
The Whale Shark is most commonly present in warm Temperate to Tropical waters. Whale Sharks also enter bays and often come close to the shoreline. They are found in waters as deep as 250m / 820ft.
The female gives birth to approximately 300 pups max and they are approximately 60cm / 23in in length and grow up to 18m / 59ft.
Want to Experience this?
You can dive with the Whale Sharks in Guinjata Bay Bay Mozambique. Guinjata Bay is a real hotspot for Whale Sharks in the Southern African Summer Months. Mozambique is fast becoming a popular dive destination thanks to its stunning untouched reefs and abundance of sea life.
Are Conservation Efforts Too Late for the Whale Shark?
March 2008
The world's largest fish, the whale shark, is among several species of migratory sharks recently singled out for protection by the UN due to severely declining populations and threatened status. At a December 2007 conference hosted by the Government of Seychelles, NGOs, fisheries and governments agreed "in principle" to promote conservation efforts for whale, basking, and great white sharks. A full agreement will be explored this year.
Whale sharks can travel over 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean in search of food and breeding grounds. They also "live a long time, don't reproduce until a late age, and often need vast areas to survive. This makes them more vulnerable to threats like overfishing and habitat destruction," said Zeb Hogan, a fisheries biologist, to National Geographic.
The tendency of whale sharks to swim far offshore also places them under precarious jurisdiction.
"While whale sharks may be protected [in some national waters], once they move 200 miles off the coast they are in the high seas, where fisheries remain almost completely unregulated," said Hogan.
Whale sharks are not alone in their plight—nearly half of the 145 species of migratory sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. And no wonder; the UN's FAO reported a global shark catch of 880,000 tons in 2003, up 17% in the past 10 years—a figure that doesn't include the sharks caught for their fins, then thrown back into the water to die.
One positive development for whale sharks is their status as an ecotourism attraction. Because they swim close to the surface and are harmless to humans, whale sharks are good underwater companions for divers and snorkelers alike.
Alex Antoniou, the La Paz field director for the Shark Research Institute, told National Geographic that "shark ecotourism is a renewable resource and an annual source of income. It creates a value for the shark as a living species as opposed to one that you find in the market."
Still, ecotours to swim with whale sharks will be a moot effort if populations continue to plummet. An agreement outlining measures for protecting migratory sharks can provide a good foundation on which to build future conservation for these ancient creatures.
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