Endangered Juvenile Whale Shark Spotted In S’pore Water Which Is 2nd Sighting Since 1964
Whale Shark rarely comes into our island shores and a wild three-meter juvenile whale shark was recently spotted in Singapore waters. The sighting was confirmed by Zeehan Jaafar, research in Singapore who studies aquatic vertebrates including fish in the Department of Biological Science at the National Unversity of Singapore.
Zeehan mentioned that it is a whale shark from the photo due to its characteristic color, marking and shape of this species.
The largest fish in the world has not been seen in Singapore water since 1964 when an 8.8-meter long whale shark was last sighted in 1964 near Pulau Sebarok, a southern island in Singapore was shot by the Marine police 13 times.
Known to be docile, these giant tropical fish can grow up to 12 metres or more, according to National Geographic. Although they are carnivores, these creatures filter feed, which means they just swim with their mouths wide open and take in any plankton, or other tiny plants and animals. The backs of their body often have prominent white spots. They are currently listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List.
photos via Matthew T Rader/Unsplash and Freakzone2212/Reddit