Photo-monitoring whale sharks

Klintersaas

Up to 20 meters long and weighing as much as 20 tons, its enormous size gives the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) its name. Known as the gentle giant for its non-predatory behavior, this fish, with its broad, flattened head and minute teeth, eats tiny zooplankton, sieving them through a fine mesh of gill-rakers. Listed as a rare species, relatively little is known about whale sharks, which live in tropical and warm seas, including the western Atlantic and southern Pacific. However, a new study combines computer-assisted photographic identification with ecotourism to study the rare species and suggests whale shark populations in Ningaloo, Western Australia are healthy. The study appears in the Ecological Society of Americas January issue of Ecological Applications.

Lees meer ... EurekAlert

(Het wetenschappelijke artikel - Robust, comparable population metrics through collaborative photo-monitoring of whale sharks, Rhincodon typus - zal verschijnen in Ecological Applications 18(1), januari 2008)

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Photo-monitoring whale sharks

Photo-monitoring whale sharks