Despite being some of the biggest fish in the ocean, whale sharks have been illusive to researchers. Migratory patterns of the plankton-eating fish, which can measure up to 30 feet long, have not been well understood. But by using satellite tracking technology and Google Maps, researchers have learned new information about the gentle giants.
Whale sharks, the researchers learned, undertake epic underwater journeys covering a range of 12,000 miles.
To track the whales, researcher Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science used harpoons to affix satellite transmitters to the whales. The creatures' inches of thick skin made securing the transmitters a challenge, but the data gained by Meekan and his colleagues will kelp better understand the fish and perhaps also strengthen conservation efforts for whale sharks.
Meekan worked with Dutch underwater photographer Peter Verhoog, to tag sharks swimming along Ningaloo Reef, 800 miles off the coast of Western Australia.
"Satellite tagging of whale sharks has demonstrated that these animals undertake multi-annual and very long-distance migrations," Meekan said, according to The Daily Mail.
"These journeys include over 12,000 miles from northwest Australia towards Asia, or 300 miles within a few weeks."
Slow moving whales sharks filter-feed off of plankton with their huge mouths. The fish pose little If any threat to man, however man has brought the number of the giant fish in the wild down to alarmingly low levels over the years.
"Sadly populations appear to have fallen thanks to harpoon fisheries in Southeast Asia," said Verhoog. Some consider the shark and its fin to be a culinary delicacy.
"In the markets in the Far East, one fin from a whale shark can sell for over $15,000," Verhoog said. "The total from one single shark can exceed $60,000."
The research and Google Maps tracking is still underway, but some pictures of the work so far are published on The Daily Mail.