Distribution Whale Shark | whale shark eating plankton
Distribution and habitat
The whale shark inhabits all tropical and warm-temperate seas. The fish is largely 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 1, 800 metres (5, nine hundred ft).|17| Periodic feeding aggregations occur for several coastal sites including the southern and eastern elements of South Africa; Saint Helena Tropical island in the South Atlantic Marine; 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 Thailand; 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 Domestic Park in Nabire, Papua, Indonesia; Flores Island, Indonesia; Nosy Be in Madagascar; off Tofo Beach near Inhambane in Mozambique; the Tanzanian islands of Mafia, Pemba, Zanzibar; Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti, the Advertising Dimaniyat Islands in the Gulf of Oman and Approach Hallaniyat islands in the Arabian Sea; and, very rarely, Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, The nike jordan. Although typically seen just offshore, it has been found closer to terrain, entering lagoons or coral reefs atolls, and near the jaws of estuaries and waterways. Its range is generally restricted to about 30° latitude. It can be 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 kms (93 mi) off the shoreline 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 kg (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 fishes recorded.|22| Aggregations in that area are among the most reliable seasonal gatherings known for whale sharks, with vast quantities occurring in most years between May and September. Connected ecotourism has grown rapidly to unsustainable levels.|23|
Not mating nor pupping of whale sharks has been seen.
The capture of a woman in July 1996 that was pregnant with three hundred pups indicated whale sharks 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 indicates the pups are not all of the born at once, but rather the female retains sperm from one mating and produces a steady stream of pups over a lengthened period.|26| That they 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 Israel discovered what is believed to be the tiniest living specimen of the whale shark. The young shark, measuring only 38 centimeter (15 in), was discovered with its tail tied to a stake at a seaside in Pilar, Sorsogon, Korea, and was released into the wild. Based on this discovery, a lot of scientists no longer believe this area is just a feeding ground; this website may be a birthing place, as well. Both young whale sharks and pregnant females have been seen in the lakes and rivers of Saint Helena inside the South Atlantic Ocean, in which numerous whale sharks may be spotted during the summer.
The whale shark is a filter feeder - one of just three known filter-feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on plankton including copepods, krill, seafood eggs, Christmas Island red crab larvae |30| and small nektonic life, such as small squid or fish. It also feeds on clouds of ova during mass spawning of fish and corals.|31| The many rows of vestigial teeth play no part in feeding. Feeding occurs either by ram filtering, in which the animal opens their mouth and swims ahead, pushing water and meals into the mouth, or by energetic suction feeding, in which the creature opens and closes it is mouth, sucking in volumes of prints of water that are then expelled through the gills. In both cases, the filtration pads serve to separate foodstuff from water. These different, 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 trips nearly parallel to the filter pad surface, not perpendicularly through it, before completing to the outside, while denser food particles continue to the back with the throat.|32| That is an extremely efficient filtration technique 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 pads. Whale sharks move to feed and possibly to breed.
2019-02-04 18:41:29 * 2019-02-03 04:01:57
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