{"id":1953,"date":"2005-03-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2005\/03\/27\/where-and-when-to-see-whale-sharks-picture-byhondonius-aurelius\/"},"modified":"2005-03-27T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-03-27T22:00:00","slug":"where-and-when-to-see-whale-sharks-picture-byhondonius-aurelius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/where-and-when-to-see-whale-sharks-picture-byhondonius-aurelius.html","title":{"rendered":"Where and When to see Whale Sharks\n\n\nPicture by\nHondonius Aurelius"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Whale shark (Rhincodon Typus) is the largest fish in the world,<br \/>\n growing up to 12m (40 feet) in length. Though massive in size, whale sharks are<br \/>\n completely harmless and feed on plankton and small fish which are<br \/>\n filtered from the water as they cruise the world&#039;s oceans.<br \/>\n Despite their size, whale sharks are remarkably gentle and curious.<br \/>\n They have a slow growth rate, only reaching maturity at around 30<br \/>\n years old and living as long as 60 &#8211; 100 years. Their reproduction<br \/>\n rate is also very slow &#8211; long intervals between pregnancies and<br \/>\n producing around a few hundred pups at one time.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n Whale Sharks are located near the Equator around coast lines and<br \/>\n open seas. They swim mostly along the top of the surface. Whale<br \/>\n sharks can be found in the following areas:\n <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n Western Atlantic: New York to central Brazil and including Gulf<br \/>\n of Mexico and Caribbean.\n <\/li>\n<li>\n Eastern Atlantic: Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde Islands, Gulf<br \/>\n of Guinea.\n <\/li>\n<li>\n Indo-West and Central Pacific: South Africa and Red Sea to<br \/>\n Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan,<br \/>\n Philippines, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Java, Irian Jaya), Papua New<br \/>\n Guinea, Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory), New<br \/>\n Caledonia, Hawaiian Islands.\n <\/li>\n<li>\n Eastern Pacific: Southern California to northern Chile.\n <\/li>\n<li>\n Indian Ocean: the Seychelles, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Madagascar,<br \/>\n Mozambique and northernmost Natal.\n <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n Unfortunately, in some countries such as India and the Philippines,<br \/>\n the whale shark is often hunted for meat which is sold to feed the<br \/>\n rich in SE Asia, where whale shark meat is an expensive delicacy.<br \/>\n Numbers have certainly been reduced, but with the migratory habits<br \/>\n of the sharks, it is very difficult to track and count them.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n February to May: The time of year to see a whale shark in Thailand<br \/>\n is between February and May.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n April to June: Whale shark sightings are extremely common on the<br \/>\n Ningaloo Reef in the months of mid April-June. A spotter plane<br \/>\n communicates with boats as it spots the large shadow of a whale<br \/>\n shark near the surface. Interactions are regulated by CALM<br \/>\n (Conservation and Land Management), which limits the number of<br \/>\n snorkellers in the water with a shark to a maximum of 10 and does<br \/>\n not allow the use of flash photography. There are also strictly<br \/>\n regulated guidelines including the distance a snorkeller should<br \/>\n stay from the animal and how long a single interaction with a whale<br \/>\n shark may last. These measures are mainly to reduce stress to the<br \/>\n sharks, another unknown factor for scientists, even though people<br \/>\n have been interacting with whale sharks on the Ningaloo for many<br \/>\n years.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n April to June: southern Belize offers whale shark spotting<br \/>\n opportunities. The best time to do so during these months are three<br \/>\n days before the full moon to three days after the last quarter<br \/>\n moon. It&#039;s during these times that the Cubera Snappers spawn,<br \/>\n attracting the Whale Sharks.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n July to September: Rarely seen in shallow coastal waters, whale<br \/>\n sharks have been regular visitors to the Sea of Cortez near Bahia<br \/>\n de Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico are closest to the US and<br \/>\n are a good place to encounter whale sharks at this time of year.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n November to April: whale sharks can be seen around Richelieu Rock<br \/>\n in the North Andaman Sea.\n <\/p>\n<p>\n If you have had a whale shark encounter, the Beetle would love to<br \/>\n hear from you!\n <\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Whale shark (Rhincodon Typus) is the largest fish in the world, growing up to 12m (40 feet) in length. Though massive in size, whale sharks are completely harmless and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-march-2005"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Where and When to see Whale Sharks  Picture by Hondonius Aurelius - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/where-and-when-to-see-whale-sharks-picture-byhondonius-aurelius.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where and When to see Whale Sharks  Picture by Hondonius Aurelius - eNewsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Whale shark (Rhincodon Typus) is the largest fish in the world, growing up to 12m (40 feet) in length. 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