The Dorsal Fin

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.

The National Georgraphic YouTube channel recently added this video featuring photographer Tom Campbell discussing capturing a shot of whale shark (Rhincodon typus) at Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef. Campbell talks about how all the elements came into play just right to capture a “killer shot.”

While this video has been around for a few years on National Geographic’s site, as well as YouTube. This recently uploaded version appears to have significantly higher video quality than some of the past offerings.

LiveScience.com is reporting that an August, 2009 aggregation of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) off the Yucatán Peninsula numbered up to 420 whale sharks within a 7 square-mile area. While this whale shark aggregation had previously been reported in the past, yesterday scientists announced that they had tallied the number of the animals to be an estimated 420.

For the full article on the recent whale shark report, check out LiveScience.com.