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The world ’s big fish , a whale shark , recently set about up close and personal with fishers in Ocean City , Maryland , nudge their boat for long enough that the crew seize a stunning video .
Steve Moore — who helms the boat , nickname " The Stalker " — was on an overnight sportfishing trip in later June when the crew fleck the 30- to 35 - foot - long ( 9 to 11 meters ) whale shark , the Delmarva Daily Times reported . A second sighting , on July 4 , pass off near the same spot . At that pointedness , fisherman Josh Schleupner jumped into the water to snorkel with the majestic fish , capturing awe - inspiring video in the operation , the Delmarva Daily Times report . [ On the Brink : A Gallery of Wild Sharks ]
Whale sharks can grow to be over 30 feet (9 meters) long.
But although the video recording of a fiend fish nudging its snout into a boat or swimming just feet from a human being may seem scarey , such occurrences are usually not serious , nor are they particularly uncommon , said Alistair Dove , vice president of enquiry and conservation at the Georgia Aquarium .
" The interestingness the animal take aim in the sauceboat is not strange , " Dove told Live Science .
Whale sharks(Rhincodon typus ) are wondering creature that often take an interest in fishing vessels . Some fisher even keep a pole handy to nudge the behemoths back under the water supply , and creditworthy boaters will cut their railway locomotive to quash slice up them up when this occurs , Dove say .
And despite their frightening appearance , the creatures are mostly harmless , Dove said .
" It ’s a wonderful shark in the sentience that it breaks what we think we know about what shark are , " Dove said . " Here ’s the biggest shark of all , and it ’s a big , polka - dotted gentle behemoth that does n’t have great , nasty teeth [ and ] that is a filter affluent . "
Gentle giants
Whale sharks are monumental shark ( not whales ) that can grow to be up to 40 feet ( 12 m ) long . They are filter bird feeder , meaning they apply their 5 - invertebrate foot - wide ( 1.5 m ) mouths take with hundreds of bristly teeth to separate out vast gulps of plankton from brine . The subtle creatures are alsodeep underwater diver , sometimes plunging to depths of 6,000 feet ( 1,800 m ) .
Most whale shark live in the Indian and Pacific oceans , though about a quarter of the population wander the Atlantic Ocean . They prosper in warm waters that are more than 71 degrees Fahrenheit ( 22 stage Celsius ) and , during the summertime , may coast up the warm Gulf Stream waters as far north as Long Island , New York . They may even taunt tender eddies from the Gulf Stream pretty tight to the shore , Dove said .
As the big fish in the ocean , whale shark have very few enemies ( although , now and again , a seedcase of orcas may assault a juvenile ) . However , the gentle giant are number as jeopardize by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature , chiefly because humans have overfished them in the western Indian Ocean .
Whale shark act as homes for many nautical creatures . For example , remoras ( also called suckerfish ) literally bind to the sharks ' pelt ; other fish shoal with the shark , coasting on their swim drafts ; and parasitical animal feed on the animals , Dove read .
Whale sharks are not fast-growing , and as long as people keep a safe aloofness of at least 10 feet ( 3 m ) , they are not at risk of injury or harm . ( The adult risk of infection of set out too tight is being accidentally slap by a heavyweight shark ’s massive tail . ) In places such as Indonesia and the Galápagos Islands , people often swim with whale shark , Dove said .
in the first place published onLive Science .
