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When a group of fishers in Indonesia spotted some whale sharks, for once, it wasn’t the animals’ massive size that captured their attention; it was their minuscule size. They were baby whale sharks, just a few feet long, and this was a very rare sight indeed. According to Conservation International, humans hardly ever see baby whale sharks, and scientists know relatively little about where and how these fish begin their lives.
The fishers caught one of a rare baby whale sharks on video, and Conservation International shared the footage in a LinkedIn post. When full grown, a whale shark can be up to 60 feet long (they’re officially the biggest fish in the world), suggesting this baby shark was a newborn, likely only about four months old.
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Conservation International says researchers in Indonesia have recently confirmed that this footage is the nation’s first recording of a baby whale shark, and it’s one of the smallest free-swimming baby whale sharks ever documented globally. “Only 33 neonatal whale sharks have ever been documented,” the non-profit wrote in its LinkedIn post.
Might scientists be on the verge of uncovering the first whale-shark pupping and nursery ground in the world?
See footage of a rare baby whale shark here:
Header stock image by Issarawat Tattong/Getty Images
