ABSTRACT: This study confirms reports by fishermen of a large and predictable aggregation of
whale sharks Rhincodon typus along the Belize Barrier Reef. Although whale sharks are rarely
sighted at this location during most of the year, we counted as many as 25 whale sharks in a 50 m
diameter area on 1 occasion and tagged 6 sharks during a 22 min period on another. The whale shark
aggregation coincides seasonally and temporally with a multispecies reef-fish spawning aggregation
at a reef promontory, Gladden Spit, at sunset, during the full and last-quarter moon periods of April
and May each year. We report here, for the first time, that whale sharks feed on the freshly released
spawn of cubera snappers Lutjanus cyanopterus and dog snappers L. jocu (Lutjanidae), and have
documented the phenomenon with still and digital video photography of hundreds of feeding events.
There is consensus locally that this remarkable interaction is in need of immediate protection from
overfishing of snappers and unregulated tourism development. Our continued investigations are
providing management recommendations for a new marine reserve at the site.
KEY WORDS: Whale shark · Rhincodon typus · Spawning aggregation · Feeding · Snapper