The smallest whale shark ever found

A marine conservation officer holds a baby whale shark, which was found with a rope on its tail tied to a stick in Pilar town, Sorsogon.
©WWF-Philippines

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are the largest fish on earth. They tipically grows 9 /14 metres and weighs 12 to 15 tonnes. A huge beast. But believe it or not its breeding habits and the place where it gives birth to its live young are a total mistery. And that's not all, between birth size and four metres they are like ghosts, they're almost impossible to locate.
So you can imagine the joy of the scientists when today a hawker in Manila, Philippines, found the beautiful creature you'll see in the picture above... a 15 inches (38 centimetres) whale shark! The tiniest ever found!
It was found with a rope tied around its tail, secured to a stick poked in the sand in a coastal town near Donsol in Sorsogon province. Environment group WWF said a hawker was allegedly trying to sell the fish. WWF, police and government officials measured and photographed it before releasing it in deeper water.
The scientists now hope that this discovery might lead to answers to the mystery of where the sea creatures breed.

More info at WWF-Philippines


15 inches (38 centimetres) whale shark! The tiniest ever found!

Now I just would like to show these two pictures to see the huge size of an adult whale shark in comparison with a scuba diver: impressive!




Three images from National Geographic Wallpapers by the great Brian J. Skerry, THE underwater photographer of National Geographic:





Two images as I really would like to see a whale shark



and finally other two as I never would like to see it:


A crowd watches as the fishermen cut a giant whale shark into pieces


Villagers gather around a dead whale shark at Teluk Bahang fishing village, 400 km (250 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysian state of Penang January 2, 2009. The 6.8-metre (22-foot) whale shark got entangled in a fishing net offshore but was too heavy to be rescued by the fishermen, Bernama news agency reported. Photo taken January 2, 2009. Photo by REUTERS