Of all the creatures in the sea, one of the most majestic and mysterious is the whale shark. It’s the biggest shark there is, 30 feet or more in length and weighing in at around 10 tons.
Among the mysteries is where this mighty fish migrates and where it gives birth. Now scientists have completed the biggest study ever of whale sharks, and they think they have some answers to those questions.
The study was conceived by Robert Hueter, a marine biologist at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. Hueter swims with sharks, and has done so for 40 years, but he has a special fondness for whale sharks. “This is the largest fish as far as we know that’s ever existed — there’s nothing bigger in the fossil record,” he explains. “But it’s a very unusual kind of shark in that it’s not a top predator; it feeds on plankton.”
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