Holy Shark

August 19, 2009

Release from: Dale Jones
BaldwinCountyNow.com

GULF SHORES, Ala. — What is 40 feet long, several tons heavy, and can be seen along the Gulf Coast?

For dive instructor Shane Anderson, it was something he has not seen in 16 years of scuba diving. But the 11-year veteran of the Down Under Dive Shop in Gulf Shores recently came face to face with a Rhincodon typus, better knows as a whale shark.

Over the past several weeks, there have been reports of whale shark sightings, but Anderson and a number of other local divers recently spotted two different whale sharks in the same week.

“The first one we saw was about three miles due south of the Perdido Pass. The other one was about 8 miles southeast of the Pass,” Anderson said.

Although the population of whale sharks is unknown, the slow moving species are typically found in tropical warm oceans and are normally found in places like Western Australia, the Philippines, the Bay Islands in Honduras and in Puerto Rico.

So why are these unusually large fish suddenly congregating along the Gulf Coast?

“We are really not sure,” said Anderson. “They are either finding a new migration route or have found a new food source.”

Along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark, the whale shark is one of only three filter feeding shark species, feeding on plankton, krill, or on small nektonic life such as squid or vertebrates.

Although it is a shark, their many rows of teeth play very little part in feeding, and the whale sharks are virtually harmless to humans. The large, gentle sharks are very accessible to divers. Anderson said that he, along with about 20 other divers, swam with one of the shark fish for about an hour.

“These are probably the most docile of all the fish we encounter,” Anderson said.

Whale sharks were discovered in the early 1800s along the coast of South Africa. The name was associated with the fish’s size and eating habits, being large as a whale, yet filter feeding.

If you are looking to find a whale shark, they are very slow swimmers and will often surface when the water is calm.

Divers in the area are encouraged to report any sightings of the large fish.