Image Credit:Caters News Agency
The world’s largest fish must have big hair, because until now, it’s been full of secrets.
So how do they get so big?
Two words: negative buoyancy.
Negative buoyancy means the krill-feeding sharks sink to the bottom of the ocean to start snacking, which allows them to conserve about 30 percent of energy normally needed to stay down.
More energy conservation = whale sharks can stay warmer, longer.
Therefore a warmer fish can forage longer.
We know that gif is of a great white, but you get the picture. The giant whale sharks also have another trick up their sleeve, critical organs are surrounded by huge blocks of white muscle that actually insulate, so they stay warmer for longer.
So to sum it all up: the bigger whale sharks get, the more heat they can store and the longer they can forage in deep water (up to 500 meters!).
“Because of this we think they have evolved to become bigger and bigger, so that today they grow up to 18 meters long and can reach 34 tons in weight – larger even than many whales,” said Mark Meekan, principal research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
When they’re not diving to the depths, whale sharks spend about 60 percent of their time at the water’s surface basking in warm waters.