A rarely seen 30-foot whale shark was spotted off Oahu’s Kaneʻohe Bay on November 2, the University of Hawaii (UH) announced in a
press release.UH researchers said they saw the shark using suction to funnel nehu fish into “its massive mouth” about a mile off Kaneʻohe Bay near Kualoa Ranch.The whale shark is the worldʻs largest fish, and though it is known to be in Hawaiian waters, it is rarely seen, UH
said.Footage shared by the university includes UH Manoa
Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology shark researcher Mark Hoyer, who saw the shark on November 2.“It is surprising,” Hoyer said of the spotting. “They are here more often than we think, however they are probably hard to come across … I didn’t see this animal until I hopped in the water.”Hoyer said that whale sharks sometimes approach boats that are standing still in the water, adding that the animal in the footage “would swim and approach our boat that was nearby, put its head up to it, go back down, and repeat that.” Credit: Mark Royer, UH shark researcher via Storyful