Scuba diving with these huge, 50-foot-long sharks is a one-of-a-kind experience, as the whale shark is the largest fish in the world. We dove with five of these “gentile giants” all at the same time, and it felt as if we had gone back into the dinosaur age.
As far as we know this massive shark does not have a Hawaiian name, as it only frequents the Hawaiian Islands from time to time. Their scientific name, rhincodon typus, means “rasp tooth” which describes their tiny, rasp-like teeth that line their jaws in 300 rows.
These docile sharks are filter feeders, and commonly feed on plankton, shrimp and small fish, but sometimes they show up in Hawaii when the corals broadcast spawn and they eat billions of coral larvae. The best place to see the whale sharks in Hawaii are near the islands of Niihau, Lanai and Molokini Islet.
We felt safe diving with these sharks that can live to be 100 years old and usually stay close to the surface, pumping thousands of gallons of sea water at a time through their mouth and out their gills to feed. In order to get enough food to sustain their massive bodies the whale sharks have to travel thousands of miles across the open seas to get food, so it is not normal to see them in the same location for more then a few days.
When you dive with these gentile giants they may not be so gentile if you get too close. When they slowly move their 3,000-pound tail you can get flipped over underwater if you are too close, and I have seen humans almost get totally sucked into their mouths when they are feeding.
These amazing creatures do not seem to mind us humans diving with them as long as we treat them with the great deal of respect they deserve for living in our seas way before us humans showed up.
The whale sharks are a threatened species because they are hunted in many parts of the world just to take their gills out to sell to the Chinese for whale shark soup. In many poor parts of the world the fishermen can get $500 for one set of whale-shark gills, so that is a lot of money to bring home to their family.
In order to stop this trade, dive companies have set up whale shark dive charters, which bring in millions of dollars worldwide just to go visit with the gentile giants without harming them. These funds then go to the local communities so they do not need to hunt the sharks any longer.
This picture is of myself shooting video of a small whale shark, and I will never forget the experience. The shot was taken by a professional underwater photographer in the Philippines, off of Cebu island.
You can see the whale sharks in action up on the educational web page, at www.underwater2web.com, and also follow marine life and surf pictures on Instagram at terry.lilley.
Aloha from under the surf.
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Terry Lilley, is a marine biologist and Hanalei resident.
Howzit Terry
Just wanted to say how much I enjoy your regular articles in TGI about our local sea life! As an avid diver (and surfer and general ocean lover) for about 50 years now I am still endlessly fascinated by the beauty of our coral reefs and the critters who call them home. Unfortunately I’ve not had the pleasure of diving with a whale shark (yet) but hope to do that in the next year or so. Mahalo for all the work and research you do to help preserve the health of our ocean environment!