Whale Shark
· Whale Shark Habitat
· Whale Shark Food
· Whale Shark Behaviour
· Conservation Status
· Whale Shark Pictures
· Whale Shark facts

Whale Shark Habitat

The whale shark is not only the largest shark around but also the largest fish in the world. The whale shark does not really have any need for a habitat per say but need warm water in order to survive and will therefore stick to the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. There they will gently swim through the water and inhale whatever happens to come within its way, pretty much as a whale.

Whale Shark habitat – The open sea

Since the whale shark is not very territorial it can be seen swimming around out on the open oceans as its heading from continent to continent, from coast to coast. As long as it does not get too far north or too far south, where the waters are too cold for it to survive, the whale shark can continuously swim around the world, always close to the surface where most of its prey resides.

Whale Shark habitat – Close to land

The whale shark will sometimes move up close to land or even enter bays and atolls. There is no real reason to this kind of behaviour but that the whale shark just happened to swim in that direction. A whale shark can be known to swim in circles in these areas and it is possibly because it can not find its way out or because there is such an amount of food in the area so there is no real need to move on.

Whale Shark habitat – The slow nomad

Since the whale shark is not really a very territorial animal it can be quite difficult to track them, they never stay in the same area for a very long time before moving on, which is a problem for the marine biologists that study the animal. This behaviour does mean that it is possible to swim into a whale shark at any time and such an event is a true delight. The whale shark is not an aggressive predator but will instead curiously circle around you to get a good look on that strange new fish it has come upon.