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Observations on the Short-Term Movements and Behaviour of Whale Sharks (Rhincodon Typus) at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

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Observations on the Short-Term Movements and Behaviour of Whale Sharks (Rhincodon Typus) at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia Marine Biology (1999) 135: 553±559 Ó Springer-Verlag 1999 J. S. Gunn á J. D. Stevens T. L. O. Davis á B. M. Norman Observations on the short-term movements and behaviour of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia Received: 19 January 1999 / Accepted: 22 June 1999 Abstract The short-term movements and behaviour of formation, and morphometric data, with a few obser- whale sharks (Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828) during vations on feeding and reproduction (see Silas 1986 and March 1994 and April 1997 are reported from data Wolfson 1986 for overviews). collected by acoustic tracking and archival tags at Nin- Each March and April, whale sharks are known to galoo Reef on the north west coast of Western Australia. aggregate on the continental shelf of the central Western Sharks were tracked for up to 26 h and generally swam Australian coast, particularly in the Ningaloo Reef area slowly at '0.7 m s)1 parallel to the reef edge; occa- (22°00¢S; 113°50¢E: Fig. 1). It has been hypothesized sionally they swam in a wide arc adjacent to passes in the that they are attracted to the area by a localised increase reef. All tracked sharks made regular dives through the in productivity associated with coral-spawning events water column, mostly from the surface to near the bot- that occur each year following the full-moon periods in tom. These dives did not appear to be related to hy- March and April (Taylor 1994a). The whale sharks are drographic features, and the sharks were probably often found close to the reef front, within a few miles of searching the water column for food. Most sharks were the shore and in water of <50 m deep. A local tourist accompanied by other ®shes, usually the golden trevally industry, based on snorkelling with the sharks, has de- Gnathanodon speciosus. veloped rapidly. Information on the distribution and movements of these sharks is of importance to this in- dustry, and to our knowledge of whale shark ecology. Introduction Possible impacts of snorkellers on whale shark behav- iour must also be considered. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828) has a Limited aerial surveys and marking with dart tags cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and warm-tem- have been carried out to estimate population numbers at perate seas (Compagno 1984; Last and Stevens 1994). It Ningaloo (Taylor 1994a), and some unsuccessful at- is epipelagic, found in both oceanic and coastal envi- tempts have been made to track sharks with both sat- ronments, grows to a huge size (at least 12 m), and feeds ellite and acoustic tags (Taylor 1994b). on small prey ranging from plankton to small ®shes and In March 1994 and April 1997, we spent a total of cephalopods (Compagno 1984). 25 d observing and tracking whale sharks at Ningaloo Our knowledge of the biology, ecology and behaviour Reef. This paper provides information on their short- of whale sharks is very limited. The scienti®c literature is term movements and behaviour. mainly restricted to locality records, distributional in- Communicated by G.F. Humphrey, Sydney Materials and methods J.S. Gunn á J.D. Stevens (&) á T.L.O. Davis CSIRO Marine Research, Data on movements and behaviour of Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 GPO Box 1538, in shelf waters o Ningaloo Reef were collected between 21±31 Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia March 1994 and between 1±14 April 1997. Behavioural observa- tions were made while snorkelling in an area of '30 km2 adjacent Fax: 0061 (0)36 232 5000 to the reef edge (Fig. 1) at Tantabiddi. Whale sharks were observed e-mail: [email protected] on 30 occasions in 1994 and 7 occasions in 1997. Limited hydro- B.M. Norman graphic data from the tracking areas were recorded during our Murdoch University, visits. South Street, Three whale sharks were tracked (two in 1994 and one, on two Perth, Western Australia 6150, Australia separate days, in 1997) using acoustic telemetry. The equipment 554 Table 1 Rhincodon typus. Summary of acoustic tracks. Track No. Start Finish Duration Surface Av. speed Speed is m s)1 (D/N data for time (%) (D/N) day and night) Time Date Time Date (D/N) (hrs) (hrs) 1994 Track 1 13:34 28 Mar 17:15 28 Mar 3 h 41 min 53 0.7 Track 2 14:00 29 Mar 16:00 30 Mar 26 h 52/73 0.5/0.7 1997 Track 1 13:58 6 Apr 14:56 7 Apr 24 h 58 min 17/65a 0.8/0.7a Track 2 16:25 10 Apr 07:00 11 Apr 14 h 35 min 17/20 0.8/0.9 a Based on ®rst 18 h of track comprised a Vemco 40 KHz V22TP-01 transmitter, a V-11 hy- sharks are known to return in succeeding seasons to Ningaloo, it drophone and VR-60 receiver, and a Garmin 100 Global Posi- was hoped the archival tags would provide information on longer- tioning System (GPS). Data on swimming depth and water term movements. One of these tags was retrieved by a whale shark temperature from the multi-channel tags were recorded at 3 s in- tour-operator '24 h after deployment. tervals together with GPS position. The tags had a range of In 1994, temperature and salinity pro®les were taken with a '1.8 km and a battery life of >1 wk. Shark location and swimming Platypus submersible data-logger (SDL) along a transect consisting speed were assumed to be the same as that of the tracking vessel. of three stations extending from close to the reef front to '9 km Swimming speed was determined from the straight-line distance out to sea (i.e the area in which the majority of whale sharks are travelled in 10 min. The hydrophone was mounted over the side of the vessel and rotated electrically to maximise signal strength. Two methods were used to attach tags. In 1994, they were attached to the ®rst dorsal ®n by means of a detachable stainless-steel head mounted on a spear that was propelled using a Hawaiian sling. In 1997, the tag was attached below the base of the ®rst dorsal ®n, again with a detachable stainless-steel head, but using a powerful spear gun to penetrate the thick skin. Both attachment procedures were carried out underwater, at depths of 0 to 8 m, by divers using snorkel. Between 26 and 30 March 1994, Zelcon SBT100 archival tags were attached to six sharks. These tags measure and store data on time, date, swimming depth, light levels, and water temperature; light levels can be used to provide estimates of geolocation (Gunn et al. 1994; Klimley et al. 1994). Since some individual whale Fig. 1 Rhincodon typus. Tracks of two whale sharks followed by Fig. 2 Rhincodon typus. Acoustic telemetry track of whale sharks acoustic telemetry outside reef at Ningaloo (thick line 3 h 41 min followed for 3 h 41 min (A) and 26 h (B) at Ningaloo (upper plots track; thin line 26 h track). Inset shows study area in Western swimming speed determined from straight-line distance travelled in Australia 10 min; lower plots swimming depth; shading sea bottom) 555 Fig. 3 Rhincodon typus. Proportion of time spent at dierent depths during day and night by whale sharks tracked for 26 h (A) 18 h (B) and 14.5 h (C) and whale shark to which archival tag was attached for 22 h (D) observed near the surface). At each of these stations, the SDL was associated with the sharks, with the smallest size classes lowered to the bottom allowing the entire water column to be always swimming close to the sharks' mouths in groups sampled. In 1997, temperature and salinity pro®les were taken using the same SDL at three sites in the same area. The 1997 of 2 to 15. Trevally estimated to be '100 to 120 mm in pro®les were taken while tracking a shark rather than at pre-de- fork length were generally seen above the heads and termined positions along a transect. around the gill slits of the sharks, and were usually In 1994, plankton samples were collected at seven sites along solitary or in groups of <3. Trevally ³150 mm were the seaward side of the reef in an area in which several whale sharks rarely seen, but when present were solitary and ranged were sighted during the day. Samples were taken opposite either reef passes or mid-reef sections, and over bottom depths of 30 to widely over the bodies of the whale sharks. 50 m. A 333 lm-mesh ring net with a 0.75 m-diam opening, rigged Three whale sharks were tracked for periods of be- with 50 kg weights and deployed as a drop-net (Heron 1982), tween 3 h 41 min and 26 h (Table 1). On 28 March sampled the top 25 m of the water column. Each cast sampled 1994, a whale shark was tracked for 3 h 41 min (Table 1, '11.05 m3. To provide an estimate of relative plankton abundance, samples were assigned an index of abundance according to the Figs. 1 and 2A) before the tag became detached. During number of organisms present: 0 = zero catch; 1 = 1 to 30 or- the track, the shark spent '53% of its time at or near ganisms; 2 = 31 to 60; 3 = 61 to 90; 4 = 91 to 120; 5 = >150. the surface; it made '10 dives, mostly to near the bot- tom which varied from '20 to 70 m (Fig.
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