Premium
Do they stay or do they go? Acoustic monitoring of whale sharks at Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia
Author(s) -
Norman B. M.,
Whitty J. M.,
Beatty S. J.,
Reynolds S. D.,
Morgan D. L.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/jfb.13461
Subject(s) - whale , reef , fishery , range (aeronautics) , chondrichthyes , indo pacific , bay , biology , geography , archaeology , materials science , composite material
Whale sharks Rhincodon typus were monitored via acoustic transmitters at the northern end of Western Australia's Ningaloo Marine Park to establish the extent to which the species inhabits the region beyond the whale‐shark ecotourism industry season, which usually extends from March to August in each year. Despite the vast majority ( c . 98%) of photographic submissions of R. typus from Ningaloo Reef being between March and August, acoustic detections from the tagged R. typus at Ningaloo were recorded in all months of the year, but do not preclude the occurrence of extended absences. It is concluded that as a species, R. typus occurs year round at Ningaloo, where it generally remains in close proximity to the reef edge, but that some individuals move outside of the detection range of the array for extended periods.