Whale Shark

Photo: Simon Pierce · CC BY-NC

Kalpitiya hosts one of the Indian Ocean's most accessible seasonal whale shark aggregations, with peak density in January and February coinciding with planktonic blooms triggered by the retreating northeast monsoon. Most individuals here are sub-adult males of 4 to 7 m — a demographic commonly seen at productive aggregation sites worldwide — suggesting a feeding rather than reproductive function for this gathering. Satellite-tagging studies in the broader Sri Lanka EEZ indicate these animals disperse into the deep Indian Ocean between aggregation seasons.