Whale sharks at Ningaloo

Two snorkellers in the water with a whale shark, Ningaloo Marine Park, Exmouth. A whale shark is the largest fish in the sea - they grow up to 18 metres long. Despite the name, they’re not whales at all. The move slowly and are filter-feeders, so they are totally harmless. And swimming alongside one is an incredible experience.

Ningaloo Reef is the only place in Australia you can swim with whale sharks. And Ningaloo is also the most reliable location to be able to find a whale shark in the open ocean, with excellent visibility. The whale sharks come to Ningaloo Marine Park between April and July each year, and you can swim right alongside them perfectly safely - definitely the experience of a lifetime.

We’ve compiled a lot of facts and information for you about whale sharks - this is our Whale Shark Information page.

Facts About Whale Sharks

Each whale shark has unique markings - we even have names for some of them (like Stumpy, and Mr Happy!). While they reliably appear at Ningaloo each year, we don’t know where they breed. We hardly ever see young whale sharks, and a pregnant whale shark has only ever been sighted once (update: saw a second one in May 2007). Quite a mystery.

Physical characteristics

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are the largest fish in the ocean. Fully grown, a whale shark can be up to 18m long. The whale sharks we see at Ningaloo Reef are usually between 4 metres and 12 metres in length. Male whale sharks are sexually mature at around 8.5 metres in length.

Whale sharks can have mouths over a metre in width, and weigh up to 15 tonnes. They have 2 dorsal fins and an anal fin, 5 gill slits, a very wide mouth, small eyes and a spiracle (a round hole behind the eyes). Whale sharks are closely related to the wobbegong shark, a bottom-dwelling shark.

The skin on the back of the whale shark is about 7cm thick. It provides the whale shark with protection and it will always bank towards the swimmers when threatened to protect its relatively soft under belly.

Whale sharks are fish and obtain their oxygen by filtering sea water through their gills. They do not need to come to the surface to breathe. It is believed that they come to the surface to feed but their feeding habits and normal behaviour remain a mystery. At the first sign of danger whale sharks will dive for the bottom. They have been known to dive to depths of 700m.

Breeding

Very little is known about the breeding cycle and mating habits of whale sharks. They do however have internal fertilisation and produce live young. Males can be distinguished by the presence of two claspers near the pelvic fin. These are absent on female sharks.

Markings

The lines and spots seen on the back of a whale shark helps them to blend into their oceanic surroundings. The patterns are unique, and can identify individual sharks. The Ecocean Whale Shark Photo Identification Library records over 700 individual whale sharks, and logs encounters with them.

Distribution

Map showing distribution of whale sharks
Map showing distribution of whale sharks

Whale sharks are found in warm temperate seas between the latitudes 30 degrees north and 35 degrees south. The seasonal aggregation of whale sharks in the Ningaloo Marine Park is linked with an increase in the productivity of the ocean around the time of the mass coral spawning in March/April each year. Ningaloo Reef is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks appear regularly in numbers.

Feeding

Whale sharks feed on zooplankton, such as copepods and krill, filtering them through thousands of tiny teeth. 300 rows of teeth are arranged in their gills, and are known as gill rakers.

It is thought they feed mainly in the open ocean. The main places where whale sharks congregate to feed include:

  • Australia (Ningaloo Reef)
  • Tanzania (Pemba, Zanzibar)
  • Honduras (Útila)
  • Phillipines (Donsol, Batangas)

You can snorkel with whale sharks at some of these locations, as well as in Belize, Thailand, the Galapagos Islands and Thailand.

Links to information about whale sharks

There is a growing amount of information about whale sharks available online. Here are a few links you may find of interest:

Blog posts and stories about swimming with whale sharks

A lot of people who swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo choose to blog about their experience. We’ve started to collect links to some of those posts here. If you have one you want linked here as well, just send us an email.

Other interesting whale shark links

Technorati Whale Shark tag

Juergen Freund is a professional photographer (no association with us, except he obviously loves whale sharks) who offers incredible whale shark images and prints for sale.

Return to Ningaloo Blue home page.

Questions about Whale Sharks?

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