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Dec 11th, 2009
Whale Shark Database
A special dive
trip to Chumpon Pinnacle yielded fantastic results as the first
Whale Shark for a while was spotted in our waters. Divers were blessed
with the sighting of a 4 metre whale shark cruising around the pinnacle.
Many divers had
cameras with them and with our ongoing efforts to record the movements
of these spectacular creatures all of them knew what locations of
the fish to take their pictures for identification purposes (above
the pectoral and beside the dorsal fin). The patterns on each fish
are different
(like fingerprints on people!) allowing specific identification
of separate individuals.
These photos
are uploaded to a worldwide database via Project Aware’s Whale
Shark Project (www.whalesharkproject.org)
which maintains its database in conjunction with the Shark Trust.
A local database
is also maintained through Marine Conservation Koh Tao. (www.marineconservationkohtao.com).
Thanks to Georgina
Mills, Neil Lyas, Hsien Han Soh & Ai Ling Lee for the photographs.
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