Whale Shark and Scuba Diver

  This scuba diver had to back out of the way when this massive whale shark, Rhincodon typus, came cruising through. The skin of the whale shark is comprised of dermal denticles, backwards facing skin teeth that channel the water improving hydrodynamics. If you ever get a chance to feel shark skin it is smooth one way and rough, like a cat's tongue the other. Whale sharks are so large that if they bump into you their dermal denticles will draw blood. I know from experience.

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Whale Shark Close Encounter

 

 Shortly after leaving Molokini we got word that there was a whale shark, Rhincodon typus, in the area. I've been waiting for a long time to take pictures of a whale shark in clear water and the water around Molokini is almost always 100+ft visibility or better. This day was no exception.
 We spotted the whale shark about 80ft down in blue water. Not giving us a second thought or perhaps curious he swam up until he was only 2ft below the surface of the water. This is a picture of my coworker Ashley a good 30ft away from the shark which gives you an idea of the size of the largest fish in the world. We estimated the length to be about 22ft with a tail at least 6ft tall. After hanging out at the surface for a few minutes the shark slowly decended down until he was out of sight.
 This was an incredible chance encounter that is very rare out here in Hawaii. We were in no danger even though the shark is so large, because it is a filter feeder, using gill rakers to filter out plankton from the water.