Whale Shark Spotted Eating Plankton Off Sarasota Coast: Watch

SARASOTA, FL — When a self-described “water enthusiast” and his friend took their boat out for Memorial Day weekend, they encountered something they never expected: a whale shark off the coast of Sarasota.

Brad Ward, who shares videos from his adventures on the water on his YouTube page Wild Animal, spotted the shark devouring plankton about 28 miles from the coast, he posted on Instagram Tuesday.

He also shared a video from their encounter with the whale shark to social media and YouTube. (Watch the video below.)

“Was a perfect day out as my buddy Mike de Michieli and I ventured out for a day on the water,” Ward wrote in the YouTube description for his video. “Heading in we spotted this giant beauty in the middle of his lunch eating plankton atop of the water. At least 30 (feet) in length and as wide as a car. Was a moment I’ll never forget!”

In the video’s introduction, he’s heard saying, “This was insane what happened. Literally just mind blown that I was able to run into something that you don’t see that often.”

The video shows them boating near the whale shark and one of the men, though it’s not clear which one, snorkeling and swimming near large fish.

De Michieli also posted a few clips from the experience on his Instagram page, writing, “Nothing beats a day on the water! Especially when you run into an over 30 (feet) whale shark.”

The whale shark or Rhincodon typus is the world’s largest vertebrate fish, growing up to 40 feet long and weighing as much as 40 tons, according to the National Ocean Service. Their name is inspired by their massive size. These big fish can also live about 60 to 100 years and are harmless to humans.

They’re found in tropical and warm-temperature waters around the world and mostly eat small organisms, including plankton, schooling fish and squid. They scoop up these tiny creatures and plant life as they swim, using their large mouths and special teeth to strain and filter their meals from the water as they move.

Whale sharks are considered endangered globally with their population largely depleted, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This is because of human activity, such as fishing, pollution and being hit by boats, the American Oceans Campaign said.

Though they’re not on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s list of endangered and threatened animals, they’re protected in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments.

While people enjoy swimming among whale sharks because they’re so gentle, this can be dangerous for the creatures as it disrupts their feeding and encourages them to get to close to boats, the AOC added.

Ward’s encounter with a whale shark off the Sarasota coast isn’t uncommon in Florida, where the fish tend to stick to northern waters in the state during the summer and migrate to the Caribbean in the winter, according to FloridaGoFishing.com.

In June 2018, scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota tagged two whale sharks spotted in the Gulf of Mexico. They’re frequently seen off Siesta Key and Anna Maria Island, Fox 13 reported.

At the end of May, a large whale shark, thought to be about 40 to 45 feet long, was spotted by a private fishing charter from Hubbard’s Marina off Madeira Beach, according to WFLA.

In 2015, two Florida teenagers fishing in Destin made headlines when they saw a whale shark and jumped on its back, filming a short video of their ride, Newsweek reported. And in 2019, a Florida man spearfishing at Fort De Soto also hitched a ride with a whale shark he spotted in the water, swimming with it for about an hour and grabbing onto its fins, according to Fox 13.

There are no laws protecting the endangered species from humans in Florida, though it is illegal to touch and ride on a manatee, reports said.

Watch Ward’s video of a whale shark off the coast of Sarasota below: