REFLECTION
This Whale Shark - Rhincodon typus was feeding near the surface. The water was calm enough for me to get a decent reflection shot.
The brownish/reddish colour around the mouth are paint residues from boats. Unfortunately, this Whale Sharks have associate boats to possible food, and they come too close to boats for feeding, at time brushing their head to the Boat, thus getting the paint on them. With the permission of the Boat/Dive Operator, I was able to scrub off the paint while snorkelling with them. They were not bothered with my efforts and did not even swim away from me each time I scrub around the mouth.
The whale shark, ''Rhincodon typus'', is a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 metres and a weight of more than 21.5 tonnes , and there are unconfirmed reports of considerably larger whale sharks. This distinctively-marked fish is the only member of its genus ''Rhincodon'' and its family, Rhincodontidae , which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. The species originated about 60.. more
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I would like to think the Whale Shark enjoyed it, it didn't swim away as though it was 'threatened' when I get to scrub it and even when it did swims away, it was a normal routine, going off for a swimming around and within minutes coming back for more feeding and cleaning :D Posted 6 years ago