lunoamarina

[lunoamarina]

happy scp 255 day everyone!

[lunoamarina]

happy scp 255 day everyone!

[lunoamarina]

My full entry for this year's @swimonzine, featuring the lovely whale shark! Thanks again for having me, and thanks to everyone who purchases a copy for helping save sharks around the globe!

[lunoamarina]

Swim in space~

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[lunoamarina]

Dream Shepherds 🌟

whale shark is love

[lunoamarina]

shop | patreon | carrd

[lunoamarina]

Learned that the Malagasy word for whale shark, marokintana, means “many stars” and I was inspired

[lunoamarina]

This might be the most intense color-changing stuff I’ve done so far. I never looked into tapestry vs intarsia techniques before this. Learnt something new.

The pattern is here on Etsy. As the designer TheKottonKaboodle mentioned, this is not a beginner pattern and can be a bit overwhelming if you are not used to change color.

[lunoamarina]

Hey blue, could you tell me about whale sharks? :]

-LT

WHALE SHARKKSSSSSSS

Whale sharks (scientific name Rhincodon Typus) are the largest fish in the sea (specifically females)! The longest whale shark recorded is 61.5 feet long, and the heaviest about 47,000 pounds, or 23.5 tons! Their mouths can be around 4-5 feet wide. They also have the thickest skin of any animal, with various sources estimating it to be anywhere between 4-11 inches thick! Their spot patterns are unique like fingerprints and can be used for identification.

Whale sharks are gentle, slow swimming (up to 3 mph) filter feeders that swim around, open their mouth, suction in water like a vacuum, and eat the little organisms that end up inside! These include plankton, krill, and squid! They have tiny little teeth on the inside of their mouth so when the water floods in, the organisms are trapped in the mouth, and then the water goes back out their gills. They have very small throats so they can only eat small organisms, and as such, they pose no threat to humans.

Like many types of sharks, whale sharks are covered in teeth-like scales called dermal denticles that reduce drag while swimming. However, unlike most sharks, whale sharks have these denticles ON THEIR EYES! It is thought to be that this is a method of protecting the eye, and whale sharks can also retract their eyes between 1/2 inch and 1 inch into their skulls to protect them.

Another fun fact is that no one has ever seen a whale shark give birth!! However, it is known that whale sharks are ovivipariois, meaning the pups (baby whale sharks) hatch from eggs while still inside the mother and then the mother gives birth to live young. A pregnant whale shark was caught and the number of embryos inside her were counted at around 300, so it’s estimated they give birth to about 300 pups at a time. Unfortunately, whale shark pups do have predators including other shark species and orcas, even though adult whale sharks are mainly only threatened by humans, and the survival rate of a whale shark pup to adulthood about one in ten.

Human threat is of high concern to whale sharks, as they are an endangered species. Habitat loss due to overfishing and pollution, illegal poaching and selling of whale shark fins, oil, and meat, entanglement in nets and other debris, boat strikes, and unsustainable tourism all pose threats to these remarkable creatures. However, sustainable ecotourism provides a valuable incentive to keep these animals thriving and their environments intact.

Whale sharks are highly migratory animals that prefer deep trenches of water next to a shallower shelf, as nutrients rise into the shallow water and then they can dive to feed on plankton, krill, squid, etc before coming up to warm back up in the shallow area. Prime coastal feeding spots (at certain times in the season) include Ningaloo Reef in Australia, Cancun, Isla Mujeres, and Isla Holbox in Mexico, Mafia Island in Tanzania, Utila in Honduras, Donsol Bay in the Philippines, the Galápagos Islands, Tofo Beach in Mozambique, and the South Ari Atoll in the Maldives.

For many of these places, ecotourism involving whale shark snorkeling excursions has boosted the area’s economy while providing a powerful incentive for the natural environment to be preserved. However, overcrowding can prove a danger to these beautiful fish, so an ethical whale shark snorkeling trip must: forbid “chumming the waters” or feeding the whale sharks to attract them, limit the number of tourists and boats in the area at a time, only allow snorkeling so the whale shark can safely and quickly swim out of a tourists’ reach if frightened or distressed, and prohibit tourists from touching the whale sharks because touching a whale shark can disrupt the delicate mucous membranes over their skin that help protect them from parasites and bacteria.

I fell in love with whale sharks after seeing them at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the only aquarium in the West to house whale sharks. These whale sharks came from Taiwan, in the mid/late 2000s, and were transported by a UPS plane in specially built tanks!

Links for if you want to learn more, assist conservation, or just for fun!

World Wildlife Fund: Facts and Conservation (article)

WWF: Adopt a Whale Shark (and receive whale shark stuffie!)

Britannica: Whale Sharks

Georgia Aquarium: Whale Shark Facts (article)

How the Whale Sharks got from Taiwan to Atlanta (video)

One Minute Whale Shark Informational Video

Watch a livestream of the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium!!

One of my whale shark stuffies

Yellow lab kisses a whale shark (my favorite video on the Internet)

Whale Shark Octonauts (it’s literally so cute) and creature report song. (both videos)

[lunoamarina]

nuttynulty on ig

[lunoamarina]

Whale shark

[lunoamarina]

Animal of the Day!

Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)

(Photo from WWF)

Conservation Status- Endangered

Habitat- Tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean; Tropical Atlantic Ocean

Size (Weight/Length)- 18 tonnes; 14 m

Diet- Plankton; Small fish; Small shrimp

Cool Facts- Being the largest living fish, the whale shark lives a relatively lonely life. Spending the majority of their lives in the deep blue, these gentle giants spend their days filter feeding through thousands of gallons of water a day. Kind of crazy how the largest fish feeds on some of the smallest animals in the ocean, that being krill. While whale sharks pose no danger to humans, that isn’t an invitation to go up and try to pet one like in videos you can find. Whale sharks are endangered due to being hit by boats, declining food sources, and illegal poaching. These gentle giants respect you, and they need respect in return.

Rating- 13/10 (A beautiful, giant, harmless shark.)

Requested by Anonymous

[lunoamarina]

guess what more wizard

[lunoamarina]

Ocean themed friends

[lunoamarina]