The Problem
How do you measure or estimate the size of a huge Whale Shark that is swimming past you in the clear open Pacific Ocean with no points of reference, added to that these Whale Sharks are so awe inspiring that you just can't believe what you are seeing and all you want to do is look at them for as long as possible not to mention the fact you are not allowed to touch the Whale Sharks so a tape measure of some sort is out of the question
The Location
The location is Darwin Island the most remote Island in the Galapagos Islands Archipelago
My Camera
My camera is a Panasonic 3ccd fitted with a wide angle lens and housed in a Greenaway Marine housing with a dome port
The Facts
I filmed this particular Whale Shark in the Galapagos Islands at the front of Darwin's Arch in September 2003. I saw the Whale Shark immediately it came out of the distant gloom and I filmed the whole sequence in one take from the first sighting until departure. The Whale Shark swam directly at me and passed by within a few inches. From the moment I started filming I was stationary just concentrating on keeping the Whale Shark in the frame. You can see that the Whale Sharks tail is making quite big strokes, added to this the Whale Shark was swimming with the prevailing current - how can you prove this I hear you ask... well if you watch the video again and don't look at the Whale Shark! you will see on the right hand side of the shot a lot of small fish, These are Creole Wrasse and are the most abundant fish in the whole Galapagos Islands and they form a big bubble like area around the dive site so although you are out in the blue as long as you can see the Creole Wrasse and there are millions of them you know pretty much where you are. The normal prevailing current reaches Darwin Island and splits in front of the Arch and this is where all the diving takes place. So if the Creole Wrasse are on your left side you are going with the current and if the Creole Wrasse are on your right side you are heading into the current. The Whale Sharks tend to swim around this big mass of Creole Wrasse either one way or the other although occasionally they will pass right through them
My Estimation of the Facts
Taking into account the size of the Tail sweeps of the Whale Shark AND the direction of travel, i.e. with the current if any, I think it would be a fair assumption to say this Whale Shark was travelling at least 1.5 mph Most information on Whale Sharks swim speed puts a figure of 3 to 4 mph as a maximum so I think my figure is very conservative, obviously having to estimate this figure would make my final measurement figure non-scientific so not reliable enough for any official records! However you can judge for yourself
The Video Shot
From the moment the Whale Sharks head comes level with the camera until the Whale Sharks tail passes by is a total of 25 seconds, I timed this in my Video Editing Programme
The Calculation
1 mph is equivalent to 1.466667 feet per second, For 1.5 mph the equivalent is 2.200000 feet per second multiply this by the number of seconds the Whale Shark took to swim by i.e. 25 seconds and you get the size of this Whale Shark at a Massive 55 Feet
Summary
Look anywhere on the internet and you will find many websites with Whale Sharks statistics and they ALL say that the maximum size that Whale Sharks grow to is 60 feet, the Guinness Book of Records has the Worlds Largest fish (a Whale Shark) recorded as 12.65 metres which is 41 feet 6 inches. I have tried to be as exact as possible but if I am 1 second out on the time of this encounter OR the Whale Shark was travelling faster than 1.5 mph then clearly this COULD BE THE BIGGEST WHALE SHARK IN THE WORLD
Conclusion
Although I have chosen this particular Whale Shark because it swam right beside me there were a lot more Whale Sharks of at least a similar size present during our stay at Darwin Island, over a 3 day period we had 52 sightings of Whale Sharks, if this Whale Shark in particular is not the biggest Whale Shark in the world then I am sure that one of the other Whale Sharks was. For anyone who is interested I never saw any Whale Sharks with a TAG attached to them
Final Comment
The Galapagos Islands and more specifically Darwin Island does surely have the BIGGEST WHALE SHARKS IN THE WORLD by comparison the most talked about Whale Sharks destination of Ningaloo reef in Western Australia has Whale Sharks in the 6 - 9 metre range which makes the Galapagos Whale Sharks at least double the size!!!
Author
Andy Sharkey organises Galapagos diving trips to dive with these huge Whale Sharks, it will not be long before these gentle giants become extinct and will be gone forever as they are hunted and slaughtered for their fins by many far eastern countries, Maybe not to far in the future these Whale Sharks will remain only as DV footage on my Video tapes
Galapagos Islands dive trips Photographs of Whale Sharks