Whale shark habitat | sharknado 4 whale eats shark
Distribution and habitat
The whale shark inhabits all of the tropical and warm-temperate waters. The fish is generally pelagic, living in the open up sea but not in the greater depths of the ocean, even though it is known to occasionally dive to depths of as much as 1, 800 metres (5, nine hundred ft).|17| Periodic feeding aggregations occur at several coastal sites such as the southern and eastern areas of South Africa; Saint Helena Area in the South Atlantic Marine; Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti, Gladden Spit in Belize; Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia; Kerala|18|, Lakshadweep, Gulf of Kutch and Saurashtra coast of Gujarat in India;|19| Útila in Honduras; Southern Leyte; Donsol, Pasacao and Batangas in the Philippines; off Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox in Yucatan and Bahía de los Ángeles in Baja California, México; Maamigili island, Maldives; Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia; Cenderawasih Bay National Park in Nabire, Papua, Indonesia; Flores Island, Philippines; Nosy Be in Madagascar; away Tofo Beach near Inhambane in Mozambique; the Tanzanian islands of Mafia, Pemba, Zanzibar; Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti, the Advertisement Dimaniyat Islands in the Gulf of Oman and Ing Hallaniyat islands in the Arabian Sea; and, very rarely, Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, Jordan. Although typically seen precisely what is, it has been found closer to property, entering lagoons or coral atolls, and near the lips of estuaries and rivers. Its range is generally restricted to about 30° latitude. It can be capable of diving to depths of at least 1, 286 m (4, 219 ft),|20| and is migratory.|9| On 7 February 2012, a large whale shark was found floating 150 kms (93 mi) off the seacoast of Karachi, Pakistan. The size of the specimen was considered to be between 11 and doze m (36 and 39 ft), with a weight of around 15, 000 kg (33, 000 lb).|21|
In 2011, more than 400 whale sharks gathered off the Yucatan Coast. It was one of the largest gatherings of whale sharks recorded.|22| Aggregations in that area are one of the most reliable seasonal gatherings praised for whale sharks, with huge numbers occurring in most years among May and September. Connected ecotourism has grown rapidly to unsustainable levels.|23|
Not mating nor pupping of whale sharks has been discovered.
The capture of a girl in July 1996 that was pregnant with three hundred pups indicated whale sharks are ovoviviparous.|9||24||25| The eggs remain in the body and the females give birth to live young which are 40 to 70 cm (16 to twenty-four in) long. Evidence shows the pups are not almost all born at once, but rather the feminine retains sperm from one pairing and produces a steady stream of pups over a lengthened period.|26| That they reach sexual maturity in around 30 years and their life expectancy is an estimated 70|9| to 100 years.|27|
On 7 March 2009, marine scientists in the Philippines discovered what is believed to be the smallest living specimen of the whale shark. The young shark, measuring only 38 cm (15 in), was found with its tail tied to a stake at a beach front in Pilar, Sorsogon, Korea, and was released into the wild. Based on this discovery, a few scientists no longer believe this place is just a feeding ground; this site may be a birthing ground, as well. Both young whale sharks and pregnant females have been seen in the waters of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, exactly where numerous whale sharks may be spotted during the summer.
The whale shark is a filtration feeder - one of simply three known filter-feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on plankton including copepods, krill, seafood eggs, Christmas Island reddish colored crab larvae |30| and small nektonic life, such as small squid or fish. It also passes on clouds of eggs during mass spawning of fish and corals.|31| The many rows of vestigial teeth play no part in feeding. Feeding takes place either by ram filtering, in which the animal opens their mouth and swims frontward, pushing water and meals into the mouth, or by productive suction feeding, in which the creature opens and closes their mouth, sucking in volumes of prints of water that are therefore expelled through the gills. In both cases, the filtration system pads serve to separate food from water. These unique, black sieve-like structures happen to be presumed to be modified gill rakers. Food separation in whale sharks is by cross-flow filtration, in which the water vacations nearly parallel to the filtration pad surface, not perpendicularly through it, before driving to the outside, while denser food particles continue to the back of the throat.|32| This can be an extremely efficient filtration method that minimizes fouling with the filter pad surface. Whale sharks have been observed "coughing", presumably to clear a build-up of particles from the filter pads. Whale sharks migrate to feed and possibly to breed.
2019-01-10 17:59:41
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