The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is both the world’s largest fish and one of the ocean’s greatest puzzles. A true enigma, these pelagic gentle giants have no real predators and seem to wander the world for no apparent reason. Where they go and why they go there is simply not known.
What we do know is that while they are predominantly solitary creatures, they will gather in key locations at certain times of the year. They seem to do this primarily to feed on locally occurring phenomena, such as the “Afuera” spawning of little tunny at Mexico’s Yucatán, or the coral spawning at Ningaloo Reef in the northwest of Australia.
But of the known aggregations, probably the most intriguing is the one that occurs in the remote Galápagos Islands from May to December each year, when large, seemingly pregnant, females arrive in quite significant numbers.
Churaumi (meaning “beautiful ocean”) in Okinawa, Japan is one of the largest aquariums in the world.
Nature’s Creche
That these huge animals have travelled incredible distances while pregnant to gather at such an iconic location seems like a perfect script for a TV documentary! It certainly sends a strong emotional appeal to those of us who love
