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.
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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
