(Dive Travel Business News - July 23, 2010) -- Anyone who saw a "Sharks of the World" poster as a youngster surely felt the mystique of the whale shark, largest shark in the world and biggest fish in the sea. Lurking behind the other shark species — bigger, even, than the mighty great white — the enormous size and peculiar spots of the whale shark stood out. Very definitely the whale shark was coolest of all sharks.
Whale sharks grow up to 40 feet but have very small teeth and aren't predatory. That means they won't try to eat you. Gentle giants, they gather each fall at Bahia de Los Angeles — almost halfway down the Baja Peninsula on the Sea of Cortez — to filter-feed on microscopic organisms called plankton.
The sharks swim slowly near the surface, keeping their large mouths open to gorge on the clouds of plankton that color the water jade that time of year. read more »
