SPIRIT ON THE WATER

They are the gentle giants of the ocean, but how whale sharks feed and breed is anybody's guess

- Mike Dilger

FOR THE DEDICATED WILDLIFE enthusiast, catching up with the ‘biggest fish in the sea’ should represent nothing less than a life highlight. But despite the whale shark’s vast size, it remains a mysterious and elusive species.

Facts and figures vary widely surrounding both the size and age that this animal of superlatives is capable of reaching. However, the general consensus appears to be that mature individuals can reach around 18m in length and potentially live to more than 100 years of age.

Being a truly pelagic species, constantly on the move between feeding and breeding grounds, the whale shark has a broad distribution across the tropics. But it is most commonly encountered in warm oceans where water temperatures rise above 21°C. Studies have also revealed that while whale sharks spend much of their time below 40m – even plumbing depths close to 2,000m – they also spend significant periods feeding in plankton-rich surface waters, for example in lagoons and around coral atolls.