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Marine Life & Conservation Blogs

14 idyllic places to swim with Whale Sharks

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It’s International Whale Shark Day today, 30th August – a day dedicated to celebrating the biggest fish in the ocean. These much-loved gentle giants are amazing to swim with and you can find them at top diving and snorkeling destinations around the world. Here is our round up of 14 idyllic places to swim with whale sharks.

1) Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia

This famous dive destination in Raja Ampat is renowned for the unique relationship between the whale sharks and fishermen that live there. The fishermen give fish to the whale sharks to bring luck and there are numerous resident whale sharks there year-round. The sharks are used to people in the water, meaning you can swim alongside them to your heart’s content.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Both.

Experience needed: Intermediate if you plan to enjoy the other scuba diving highlights of Cenderawasih Bay.

When to go: July to September

2) Djibouti

This little-known dive destination at the southwestern tip of the Red Sea is crowd-free and offers the chance to dive with juvenile whale sharks. Djibouti’s rich waters attract whale sharks in numbers to the coastline each year, where divers and snorkelers commonly see them.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Both, though mostly snorkeling excursions.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: Whale sharks can be seen all year, though September, October and February offer the best conditions for peak numbers.

3) Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Isla Mujeres, a picture-perfect island in the Caribbean Sea, is Mexico’s best-known whale shark diving hotspot and has one of the highest concentrations of whale sharks in the world. Various locals operators will take you snorkeling with the sharks, and you can enjoy some of Mexico’s best diving and snorkeling at nearby Cancun and Cozumel.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: May to September. July and August are peak whale shark season.

4) Socorro Islands, Mexico

The remote Socorro Islands off the coast of Mexico take time to get to, but they host more ocean giants than you could ever hope to see, including whale sharks, humpback whales, giant Pacific manta rays and bottlenose dolphins. This is Mexico’s premier liveaboard diving destination and doesn’t disappoint for marine megafauna and whale shark fans.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Scuba dive.

Experience needed: Intermediate and experienced divers.

When to go: November and December for whale sharks.

5) The Maldives

Diving in the Maldives is synonymous with whale sharks and they are found at this idyllic destination all year. South Ari Atoll’s waters are busy with juvenile whale sharks, though Huvadhoo and Thaa atolls are also great places to snorkel and dive with these spotty giants.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Both.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: All year.

6) Ningaloo Reef, Australia

Hundreds of whale sharks gather at Ningaloo Reef each year, making it Australia’s prime destination for snorkeling with whale sharks. As well as being a UNESCO World Heritage area with stunning dive sites and zero crowds, the Ningaloo Coast also has seasonal sharks, humpback whales, mantas and sea turtles in abundance.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: March to June for whale sharks.

7) Thailand

If you want an affordable dive destination with the chance to see whale sharks, go diving in Thailand. Whether you dive at world-famous Richelieu Rock in the Andaman Sea or explore around the Gulf of Thailand’s many islands, there are numerous world-class dive sites and a good chance you will see whale sharks.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Scuba dive.

Experience needed: There are dives for all experience levels in Thailand.

When to go: February to April for whale shark season at Richelieu Rock.

8) Cocos Island, Costa Rica

Known as the ‘Little Galapagos’, Cocos Island in Costa Rica has fantastic shark diving with huge schools of hammerheads. This incredible island’s rich waters also host whale sharks, abundant manta rays, reef sharks and dolphins.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Scuba dive.

Experience needed: Intermediate and experienced divers.

When to go: June to November for whale sharks.

9) Mafia, Tanzania

Mafia Island in Tanzania has one of the longest whale shark seasons globally and is home to more than 180 resident whale sharks. The whale sharks are seen year-round and feed in the shallow waters off the western side of Mafia Island, making it easy to go swimming with them.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: October to March for whale sharks.

10) Tofo Beach, Mozambique

Whale sharks roam the plankton-rich waters off Tofo Beach in Mozambique all year long. As many as 50 whale sharks can be seen at any one time and there are numerous mantas, dolphins and sea turtles to find at this picture-perfect beach destination. Way off the beaten track, this is a hidden whale shark hotspot.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: October to March for whale sharks.

11) The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Galapagos diving is paradise for nature fans and offers endless highlights above and below the water line, including encounters with whale sharks. Wolf and Darwin Islands are the best places to dive with whale sharks, where you will find them at the surface and at depth.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Scuba dive.

Experience needed: Intermediate and experienced divers.

When to go: June to October for whale sharks.

12) Seychelles

If you want to combine whale sharks encounters with sailing calm seas, coral reef diving and water sports, visit the Seychelles. These stunning islands are perfect for families, honeymooners and adventurous souls alike, and have plenty of whale sharks off Mahé Island.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: October for whale sharks.

13) Utila, Honduras

Sitting within the expansive Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, Utila’s waters are teeming with tropical fish life and host whale sharks all year. This tiny island is famous as the Whale Shark Capital of the Caribbean and offers a range of whale shark swimming safaris.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: Year-round, with peak whale shark season from March to April.

14) Nosy Be, Madagascar

Madagascar is a relatively new whale shark hotspot that came to the world’s attention in 2018, when researchers discovered juvenile whale sharks swim to Madagascar to feed. These charming sharks are seen primarily around the small island of Nosy Be, in northwest Madagascar.

Snorkel or scuba dive? Snorkel.

Experience needed: All experience levels.

When to go: September and December for whale sharks.


Kathryn Curzon, a shark conservationist and dive travel writer for Scuba Schools International (SSI), wrote this article.

Scuba Schools International (SSI) is the largest professional business-based training agency in the world. For over 50 years now, SSI has provided the ultimate training experience for millions of certified divers, not only in Recreational Scuba, but in every training category: Freediving, Extended Range, Rebreather Diving, Mermaid, Swim and Lifeguard.

Marine Life & Conservation Blogs

Creature Feature: Goblin Shark

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In this series, the Shark Trust will be sharing amazing facts about different species of sharks and what you can do to help protect them.

Written by guest contributor – Yolanda Evans.

Mysteriously slithering around the dark mesopelagic of the western Pacific, the glorious Goblin shark swims in search for their next meal. This illusive shark is one of the most unique-looking sharks to ever exist, having a long snout called a rostrum and protrusible jaws, hailing them their common name, Goblin. Their rostrum is covered with small pores called the ampullae of Lorenzini, jelly-filled pores in the snouts of many sharks that are able to pick up changes in the electro-magnetic field, for example the muscle contractions of nearby fish. However, these pores can only detect movement only a few inches in front of the shark!

In addition to their rostrum, these sharks poses and amazing ability to protrude their jaws out or their cartilaginous skull by something called slingshot feeding. This is when the jaws are shot forward, extending 8.6-9.4% of the Goblin sharks total body length. However, this fast jaw action also creates a powerful suction-known as a pharyngeal suction-forcing their prey deeper into their mouths.

While many sharks range from greys to blues to browns, this stupendous shark can be a very pale pink! However, this unusual colour is not from a pigment in their skin, but from the thinness of their skin! Their skin has such a great transparency that the oxygenated blood that flows in their capillaries-tiny blood vessels-causes what would be their grey skin, to become pink. This amazing ability might actually been an adaptation for the shark, they live 270m-1300 m deep, red light wavelengths cannot be seen, making the spectacular shark near invisible to both prey and predators!

Their scientific name, Mitsukurina owstoni, comes from the British naturalist Alan Owston who is credited with discovering the shark, and from Kakichi Mitsuriki, the Japanese scientist who identified and described the shark. While the English common name is only from their long rostrum, the direst translation into Japanese is Tengu-zame, base of the Tengu, a Japanese mythological half-man-half-bird who had red skin and a long nose, a comparison more fitting.

Despite their somewhat intimidating appearance, the Goblin shark is not an aggressive species, predating on mainly small bony fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. Long slender teeth that protrude out from their jaws, appearing almost like blades, are perfect for clutching onto their prey. Nonetheless, the most threat they create towards humans is disrupting our internet as they are known to bite down onto submarine cables!

Like many other shark species, Goblin sharks main threat is by-catch from deep-sea longlining and deep-sea trawling. They are listed by the IUCN as least concern. Unfortunately, being relatively understudied, this may be incorrect as there is a very minimal amount of knowledge about the lives of these sharks. Leaving the question: what else is there to know about the truly incredible Goblin shark?

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Mitsukurina owstoni

FAMILY: Mitsukurinidae

MAXIMUM SIZE: Up to 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) in length

DIET: Feeds primarily on deep-sea fish, but also crustaceans and cephalopods

DISTRIBUTION: Goblin Sharks have a wide but patchy distribution, found in deep waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

HABITAT: Primarily found in the deep sea, typically between 200 and 1,200 meters (656 and 3,937 feet) in depth. They are occasionally seen at shallower depths, but are typically associated with steep slopes and canyons on the continental shelf and slope.

CONSERVATION STATUS:

Due to their deep-sea habitat and elusive nature, they are rarely encountered and little is known about their population trends. However, they are sometimes caught as bycatch in deepwater fisheries, and there is concern over the potential impacts of deep-sea mining activities on their habitat.


Images – www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3254 | Wikimedia Commons

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Marine Life & Conservation Blogs

Creature Feature – Megamouth Shark

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A rare and mysterious species, the Megamouth Shark Megachasma pelagios was first sighted when one had gotten entangled in a sea anchor (Oceana, 2023), and hauled up by fishermen on-board a navy ship in 1976 (Black, 2014). The Megamouth Shark is distributed worldwide in tropical to temperate latitudes, can be found in costal to open ocean (epipelagic to bathypelagic), and is a filter feeder, like that of the Whale, and Basking Shark (Oceana, 2023).

Upon its first discovery, this genus of shark generated its own taxonomy, Order Lamniformes (mackerel sharks), and belongs to the family Megachasmidae (megamouth sharks) (Oceana, 2023). Currently this shark is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, with the most recent assessment of species health being in 2018 (IUCN Red List, 2023). The Megamouth Shark can be found resident in countries such as Australia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, South Africa, and China, with the current population number of sharks being unknown due to their rare sightings, and lack of research (IUCN Red List, 2023).

A large species of shark, reaching weights of up to 2700 pounds (1215kg), and approximately 16 feet in length (5m), this species has only been observed within the wild a few times, with less than 60 individual sharks having been known by scientists to of ever been captured or observed (Oceana, 2023). The smallest of the three species of filter-feeding sharks, this shark derived its name from its remarkably large, circular mouth (Oceana, 2023). From what little research has been carried out on the species, from the rare few sightings these sharks have been observed residing near to the surface, in depths of up to 15,000 feet (4600m) (Oceana, 2023).

It is believed that Megamouth sharks only come near to the surface at night, spending the majority of their lives in the dark (Oceana, 2023). They are filter feeders that swim through the ocean with their mouths open capturing food resources, such as plankton (Oceana, 2023). The inside of their mouths contain light producing organs, believed to be used for attracting pelagic crustaceans and other prey (Oceana, 2023).

With commercial fisheries pushing to deeper depths to discover new species to market as food, more and more large deep sea creatures are being discovered (Oceana, 2023). Like other species of shark, megamouths mate via internal fertilization, giving birth to a small number of live young (Oceana, 2023). The adult shark does not connect to their live young through a placenta, and instead the mother provides an unfertilized egg during gestation (Oceana, 2023). Once born, the megamouth shark immediately becomes a filter feeder (Oceana, 2023). There is a huge lack in species behavioral ecology, and richness, and so electronic tagging studies and further research is needed in order to better understand, and to conserve this species (Watanabe & Papastamatiou, 2019).

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Megachasma pelagios

FAMILY: Megachasmidae

MAXIMUM SIZE: Up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length

DIET: Filter feeds for plankton, but also consumes deep water fish

DISTRIBUTION: Widespread distribution in tropical and temperate waters worldwide

HABITAT: Ocean-going. Surface to deep waters – 1,000m.

CONSERVATION STATUS:

Due to its elusive nature and rare sightings, little is known about its population size or trends. It is occasionally caught as bycatch in fishing gear, but there are no known directed fisheries for this species.


Banner image – Wikimedia Commons | GordonMakryllos

References:

This month’s Creature Feature has a guest writer – Jodie Moore

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