Satellite Tracking Shows Migratory and Feeding Behavior of Whale Sharks

The world's largest fish, the globetrotter, occasionally catches some sun in the Panamanian Pacific's coastal waters.

There is, however, little additional information available regarding the local Rhincodon typus whale shark's habits.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, and the University of Panama investigated the variables trying to influence the behavioral patterns of this endangered species by tracking the whereabouts of 30 of them via satellite.

Whale Sharks

(Photo : EDIER ROSADO CHERREZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Whale sharks can choose from a wide variety of fish because they are the largest fish in the sea, growing to lengths of 40 feet or more. Fortunately for most marine creatures-and for us! -plankton is their preferred food, as per National Geographic.

While swimming near the surface of the water, they scoop up these tiny plants and animals as well as any nearby small fish with their enormous gaping mouths.

The whale shark is a filter feeder, just like the basking shark, the second-largest fish in the world. The animal juts out its enormous jaws to eat, passively filtering everything within the path.

According to theory, the mechanism is a process known as cross-flow filtration, which is used by some bony fish as well as baleen whales.

The flattened head of the whale shark has a blunt snout beyond its mouth and short barbels sticking out of its nostrils.

Its belly is white, and its back and sides are gray to brown with white spots scattered between light vertical and horizontal stripes. Its body has two dorsal fins set rearward, and the large, dual-lobbed caudal fin is at the end of the body (or tail).

All tropical seas are home to whale sharks, which prefer warmer waters. Every spring, they are recognized to migrate to Australia's central west coast's continental shelf. The Ningaloo Reef in the region's coral spawning provides a plentiful supply of plankton for the whale shark.

Conservation of Whale sharks

The R. Typus, like other big sharks, can start taking years or even decades to mature and reproduce, which leaves them open to population decrease, especially in combination with threats from humans, as per ScienceDaily.

For instance, they run the risk of being struck by a vessel when shipping lanes cross over their feeding grounds or being managed to catch in fishing nets as bycatch. The first step in safeguarding the whale shark species is to be able to comprehend and forecast its behavior.

Whale sharks primarily forage in coastal waters, seamounts, and ridges of the Panamanian Pacific, in which they can find an abundant supply of their favorite foods: small fish and plankton, according to research on this species conducted by STRI marine ecologist Héctor Guzmán.

Additionally, they were seen swimming north and south along the coast, in the direction of Mexico and Ecuador, as well as in the direction of the open ocean.

Guzmán stated that this species requires precise regional planning. Once the locations of the breeding and feeding aggregation areas have been determined, some protective measures ought to be put in place.

The recently announced regional expansions of marine protected areas offer an intriguing framework for extensive conservation efforts.

The creation of regional marine protected areas should not be the only conservation strategy used for highly migratory and endangered animals like the whale shark.