Compared with normal, sub-surface swimming, three sharks increased their stroke rate and amplitude while surface feeding, while one shark that fed at depth did not demonstrate a greatly increased energetic cost. Presumed feeding constituted 20% of the total time budget of four sharks, with individual feeding bouts lasting up to 11 consecutive hours. Here we show that the strategies employed by whale sharks to compensate for the increased drag of an open mouth are similar to ram feeders five orders of magnitude smaller and one order of magnitude larger.

We used open-source inertial measurement units (IMU) to log 397вЂ…h of whale shark behavior in YucatГЎn, Mexico, at a site of both active feeding and intense wildlife tourism. How this largest fish thrives in tropical environments that promote high metabolism but support less robust zooplankton communities has not been sufficiently explained. Whale sharks ( Rhincodon typus) вЂ“ the largest extant fish species вЂ“ reside in tropical environments, making them an exception to the general rule that animal size increases with latitude.

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