Whale Shark

Photo: Simon Pierce · CC BY-NC

Saint Helena's whale shark aggregation is composed predominantly of immature males measuring 4 to 8 metres, arriving from November and peaking in January through March when tuna spawning events produce dense plankton and fish egg concentrations that the sharks target with open-mouth filter feeding near the surface. The population's relationship to other South Atlantic aggregation sites is poorly understood because satellite tagging programmes have only recently commenced here, making every research encounter scientifically valuable. The sharks exhibit little fear response to divers due to the near-total absence of historical human contact in this remote location.