By Helen BriggsBBC News
17 May 2018
Large numbers of endangered whale
sharks have been sighted in waters off Madagascar.
The first major scientific survey
in the area shows there are far more of the huge fish than previously thought.
Eighty-five individuals were
identified in a single season from photographs of their distinctive markings.
The coastal waters contain a huge
diversity of marine life, including sharks, whales and turtles.
"No one thought there were
that many [whale] sharks," said Stella Diamant of the Madagascar Whale
Shark Project in Nosy Be, an island off the coast of Madagascar.
"They don't seem to be there
all year round - they come back for the food."
Many stars
Whale sharks, which have unique spot
patterns, are known locally as marokintana, meaning many stars.
The marine biologists uploaded
photographs of the sharks' markings to a global database of sightings known as
the Wildbook for Whale Shark.
They found no overlap with data
collected from other feeding areas in the Indian Ocean, suggesting the whale
sharks - all juveniles - had not migrated from Mozambique or other neighbouring
areas.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!