The whale sharks exhibit diurnal movements.
During April and May, while aggregated to feed on fish spawn in the evenings, whale sharks were regularly seen during the day, feeding well offshore of the reef.
Whale sharks were found 3 to 20 km away from the reef promontory, associated with schools of bonito Sarda sarda, blackfin tuna Thunnus atlanticus, bigeye tuna T.
obesus, and skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis.
The whale sharks among the schools of tuna were often observed stationary suction feeding, and may have been feeding on the same small pelagic fishes as the tuna.
We also observed a whale shark ram filter feeding, both at and just below the surface, on the thimble jellyfish Linuche unguiculata (1 cm3 in size) at noon on 4 April
1999.
This observation was made inside the barrier reef in 10 m water depth, where the jellyfish were found at high concentrations along a wind-driven current line.
This same shark, nicknamed ‘Fringy Dorsal/Kinky Tail’ (because of a distinctly ragged distal edge of the first dorsal fin and a kinked tail that we could recognize from the video footage) was observed feeding on spawn later the same evening.
The whale sharks exhibit diurnal movements. During April and May, while aggregated to feed on fish spawn in the evenings, whale sharks were regularly seen during the day, feeding well offshore of the reef. Whale sharks were found 3 to 20 km away from the reef promontory, associated with schools of bonito Sarda sarda, blackfin tuna Thunnus atlanticus, bigeye tuna T.obesus, and skipjack tuna Katsuwonus pelamis.The whale sharks among the schools of tuna were often observed stationary suction feeding, and may have been feeding on the same small pelagic fishes as the tuna.We also observed a whale shark ram filter feeding, both at and just below the surface, on the thimble jellyfish Linuche unguiculata (1 cm3 in size) at noon on 4 April1999. This observation was made inside the barrier reef in 10 m water depth, where the jellyfish were found at high concentrations along a wind-driven current line.This same shark, nicknamed ‘Fringy Dorsal/Kinky Tail’ (because of a distinctly ragged distal edge of the first dorsal fin and a kinked tail that we could recognize from the video footage) was observed feeding on spawn later the same evening.
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