The Dorsal Fin

Photo courtesy of National Geographic. ©Michael Aw / National Geographic

The upcoming October 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine will feature the story “Sharing With Sharks,” which documents interactions between whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and local fishermen off the island of New Guinea. The world’s largest species of shark is known to congregate in the area, where they have been observed searching for “free meals” either by pilfering a fisherman’s net or through voluntary hand-outs from the fishermen.

From National Geographic…

The giant fish is hard to study in part because it is hard to find and track. By tagging individual specimens, scientists have learned that whale sharks can log thousands of miles in years-long trips. But they sometimes disappear for weeks, diving more than a mile down and resting in the chilly deep for a spell. No one has ever found mating or birthing grounds.

Whale sharks are ordinarily loners. But not in one corner of Indonesia. The photographs on these pages, shot some eight miles off the province of Papua, reveal a group of sharks that call on fishermen each day, zipping by one another, looking for handouts near the surface, and nosing the nets—a rare instance when the generally docile fish act, well, like the rest of the sharks.

You can check out the entire online story at National Geographic’s "Sharing With Sharks". For more of Michael Aw’s photos taken on-location while working on this story, visit National Geographic’s accompanying "Sharing With Sharks" photo gallery.

"Sharing With Sharks" is featured in the October 2011 issue of National Geographic magazines, on newsstands September 27.

Jonathan Green recently posted a promotional video video for the Galapagos Whale Shark Project. The project is a collaborative effort of several organizations and involves tagging whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) with satellite tags with the goal of learning more about the species and increasing public knowledge about whale sharks.

For more information about the project, visit the Galapagos Whale Shark Project website.

Well-known underwater photographer and WetPixel owner Eric Cheng has shared a video on his YouTube channel that features a 5-year-old boy swimming along side a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) off of Mexico’s Isla Mujeres. The area has become a hot-spot for snorkeling during the summer months when large numbers of whale shark aggregate in a relatively small area.

The latest pro-shark video from Blue Sphere Media and WildAid features Richard Branson swimming with whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) off of Mexico’s Isla Mujeres in order to raise awareness about protection of the species. Isla Mujeres has become a well-known aggregation point for whale sharks in the summer months, where hundreds of whale sharks gather each year to feed in the area’s nutrient rich waters.

While Branson refers to whale sharks as an “endangered species,” it should be noted that the IUCN actually list the species as “vulnerable” on the Red List, which is the next category below “endangered.”

Branson also tends to focus on the sharks being the victims of finning. However, the whale shark has been targeted in the past not only for its fins but also its meat and massive internal organs. For example, a recent feature on whale sharks in Kenya noted that the liver from a whale shark is a valuable commodity to fishermen. The IUCN also notes that whale shark populations have been depleted in some areas by harpoon fisheries and unintentional capture (or bycatch) by traditional fisheries.

An article in The Daily Mail suggests that a diver was nearly swallowed by a whale shark.

The UK’s Daily Mail posted an article today with the title “Open wide: The diver who nearly got swallowed by a whale shark.” While the headline itself seems a bit ridiculous in nature, the article does feature some nice shots of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) off of Isla Mujeres, which were taken by Mauricio Handler.

In the photo that is captioned with “Jaws: This diver almost got sucked into the mouth of a massive whale shark as it fed on plankton” uses perspective that might give the impression that the diver is about to be sucked up by the whale shark at first glance. However, as one of the Daily Mail readers already pointed out in the article’s comments section, the whale shark in the photo is actually closer to the camera than the diver, which exaggerates its size in relation to the diver. The diver appears to be behind (in relation to the camera) the whale shark and not in any harm’s way. The article also notes that if a whale shark were to swallow a human, it would have just spat him out.