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Mystical Creatures of the Sea

The Whale Shark

You probably already know this: whale sharks are amazing fishes, they are the biggest of all sharks, and completely harmless to humans at the same time. Scientists still haven’t found out all the secrets these giant sharks hold, but through modern satellite technology, more and more information about whale sharks is revealed. As in this blog, we already highlighted the whale shark’s extraordinary size, its eating habits, and their unusual appearance, having their backs sprinkled with white dots which make it look like they carry the night sky on their back, we now take a look at what researchers recently found out about our favorite sharks.

 

In 2015, scientists started the first satellite-monitoring program, in which whale sharks living close to offshore eastern Indonesia were tagged with trackers that transmit information about the locations, depth and temperature data of the sharks. This experiment has led the researches to fascinating discoveries several months after the beginning. Findings showed that most of the whale sharks stayed close to the location they were found at, but some traveled very far, only to come back to the region they started from. One shark swam around 2,500 miles! Why the sharks went so far in such a short time is unexplainable for the biologists. Moreover, whale sharks are incredibly deep divers; they can go down to 6,000 feet (1830 meters!).

The satellite trackers still have a couple of months of battery, we cannot wait to learn what the team of scientists will find out more about the whale shark! As in this blog, we already highlighted the whale shark’s extraordinary size, its eating habits, and their unusual appearance, having their backs sprinkled with white dots which make it look like they carry the night sky on their back, we now take a look at what researchers recently found out about our favorite sharks.

 

In 2015, scientists started the first satellite-monitoring program, in which whale sharks living close to offshore eastern Indonesia were tagged with trackers that transmit information about the locations, depth and temperature data of the sharks. This experiment has led the researches to fascinating discoveries several months after the beginning.

Findings showed that most of the whale sharks stayed close to the location they were found at, but some traveled very far, only to come back to the region they started from. One shark swam around 2,500 miles! Why the sharks went so far in such a short time is unexplainable for the biologists. Moreover, whale sharks are incredibly deep divers; they can go down to 6,000 feet (1830 meters!). The satellite trackers still have a couple of months of battery, we cannot wait to learn what the team of scientists will find out more about the whale shark!

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