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      Whale Sharks, Rhincodon typus, Aggregate around Offshore Platforms in Qatari Waters of the Arabian Gulf to Feed on Fish Spawn

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          Abstract

          Whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, are known to aggregate to feed in a small number of locations in tropical and subtropical waters. Here we document a newly discovered major aggregation site for whale sharks within the Al Shaheen oil field, 90 km off the coast of Qatar in the Arabian Gulf. Whale sharks were observed between April and September, with peak numbers observed between May and August. Density estimates of up to 100 sharks within an area of 1 km 2 were recorded. Sharks ranged between four and eight metres’ estimated total length (mean 6.92±1.53 m). Most animals observed were actively feeding on surface zooplankton, consisting primarily of mackerel tuna, Euthynnus affinis, eggs.

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          Whale sharks Rhincodon typus aggregate to feed on fish spawn in Belize

          WD Heyman, RT Graham, B Kjerfve … (2001)
          Article 0 comments Cited 87 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Feeding anatomy, filter-feeding rate, and diet of whale sharks Rhincodon typus during surface ram filter feeding off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

            J Strother, Samantha Mulvany, John P. Tyminski … (2010)
            The feeding anatomy, behavior and diet of the whale shark Rhincodon typus were studied off Cabo Catoche, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The filtering apparatus is composed of 20 unique filtering pads that completely occlude the pharyngeal cavity. A reticulated mesh lies on the proximal surface of the pads, with openings averaging 1.2mm in diameter. Superficial to this, a series of primary and secondary cartilaginous vanes support the pads and direct the water across the primary gill filaments. During surface ram filter feeding, sharks swam at an average velocity of 1.1m/s with 85% of the open mouth below the water's surface. Sharks on average spent approximately 7.5h/day feeding at the surface on dense plankton dominated by sergestids, calanoid copepods, chaetognaths and fish larvae. Based on calculated flow speed and underwater mouth area, it was estimated that a whale shark of 443 cm total length (TL) filters 326 m(3)/h, and a 622 cm TL shark 614 m(3)/h. With an average plankton biomass of 4.5 g/m(3) at the feeding site, the two sizes of sharks on average would ingest 1467 and 2763 g of plankton per hour, and their daily ration would be approximately 14,931 and 28,121 kJ, respectively. These values are consistent with independently derived feeding rations of captive, growing whale sharks in an aquarium. A feeding mechanism utilizing cross-flow filtration of plankton is described, allowing the sharks to ingest plankton that is smaller than the mesh while reducing clogging of the filtering apparatus. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
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              Population size and structure of whale sharks Rhincodon typus at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

              MG Meekan, CJA Bradshaw, Gregory Press … (2006)
              Article 0 comments Cited 69 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Maura Geraldine Chapman: Role: Editor
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE
                Journal ID (publisher-id): plos
                Journal ID (pmc): plosone
                Title: PLoS ONE
                Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203
                Publication date Collection: 2013
                Publication date (Electronic): 13 March 2013
                Volume: 8
                Issue: 3
                Electronic Location Identifier: e58255
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
                [2 ]Qatar Ministry of Environment, Doha, Qatar
                [3 ]UAE University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
                [4 ]Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York, United Kingdom
                [5 ]The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, Turks & Caicos Islands
                [6 ]Marine Megafauna Foundation/ECOCEAN USA, Tofo Beach, Mozambique
                [7 ]Marine Conservation International, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
                University of Sydney, Australia
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Conceived and designed the experiments: DPR MYJ RWJ KLB PAM. Performed the experiments: DPR MYJ RWJ KLB NMN AAA KE PAM. Analyzed the data: DPR MYJ RWJ KLB NMN AAA KE ACH SJP RFGO. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DPR MYJ NMN AAA KE PAM. Wrote the paper: DPR MYJ RWJ KLB NMN AAA KE PAM ACH SJP RFGO.

                Article
                Publisher ID: PONE-D-12-39137
                DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058255
                PMC ID: 3596407
                PubMed ID: 23516456
                SO-VID: dbb00a29-9bb2-4d8d-ab90-847d1e865960
                Copyright statement: Copyright @ 2013
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                Date received : 14 December 2012
                Date accepted : 5 February 2013
                Page count
                Pages: 10
                Funding
                The research project was funded through the Qatar Ministry of Environment. Direct collaborators within the Qatar Ministry of Environment also provided advice, support in study design, data collection and analysis. DPR’s work on this manuscript was supported by funding from the Save Our Seas Foundation. SJP’s work on this manuscript was supported by the Shark Foundation and private donors. The journal publication fees for this manuscript were provided by Maersk Oil. All other funders, apart from collaborators from the Qatar Ministry of Environment, had no role in the preparation or decision to publish the manuscript.
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article
                Subject: Biology
                Subject: Ecology
                Subject: Behavioral Ecology
                Subject: Biodiversity
                Subject: Biogeography
                Subject: Conservation Science
                Subject: Ecological Environments
                Subject: Ecosystems
                Subject: Global Change Ecology
                Subject: Marine Ecology
                Subject: Population Ecology
                Subject: Genetics
                Subject: Marine Biology

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized

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