The Gentle Giant

Despite their big mouths and their amazing size—up to 15 meters—whale sharks are harmless to humans. They feed on zooplankton, larvae of several species, and small species such as crabs, shrimp, and jellyfish. They are attracted to seamounts and offshore promontories such as Cocos, because currents bring their food to these sites.

With its huge body, a whale shark can be the perfect home for some tagalong species. Remora fish usually are seen in large numbers and on several parts of the whale sharks: their tails, their bellies, and near their mouths. While remoras feed on the shark’s leftovers, it is unknown whether whale sharks receive any benefits from the presence of the remoras.

Even large groups of mullet snappers, fish often more than a meter in length, look small beside the magnificence of a whale shark.

Whale sharks migrate hundreds of kilometers every year. Even though it is extremely difficult to monitor their travels, it has been shown that the dot patterns on whale sharks differ among individuals, like human fingerprints. Using the patterns on the left side of the sharks, it has been possible to create a growing catalog, which is shared among several local monitoring programs around the world to help track their movements.

Photographs by Octavio Aburto

In the photos above:
A whale shark dwarfs marine ecologist and Ocean Now team member Enric Ballesteros.
Fellow travelers, remora fish glide along with the whale shark.
A black jack shadows the whale shark against a backdrop of mullet snappers.
The gentle whale shark from above.