Researchers have been tracking a 26-foot endangered whale shark -- named 'Rio Lady' -- with a satellite transmitter for more than four years -- a record for whale sharks and one of the longest tracking endeavors for any species of shark.
Researchers have been tracking a 26-foot endangered whale shark -- named 'Rio Lady' -- with a satellite transmitter for more than four years -- a record for whale sharks and one of the longest tracking endeavors for any species of shark.
Researchers at URI and Nova Southeastern tracked Rio Lady for about 27,000 miles over nearly 1,700 days between 2018 and 2023. Her journey took her through the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and out into the Atlantic Ocean south of Bermuda. A study conducted by the researchers was published in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research, describing movement, migration and habitat use of Rio Lady.
"As the biggest fish in the ocean, it is challenging to follow the movements of whale sharks over long periods of time," said Brad Wetherbee, assistant professor of biological sciences at URI and an expert on shark movement and migration, who consulted on the project."But information on the movements of these endangered sharks is important for management of their populations."
Rio Lady was first tagged in 2007 with a pop-up satellite archival transmitter affixed to her near the Isla Mujeres, in waters off Cancun, Mexico, that are frequented by hundreds of whale sharks annually from July through August. She was tracked for 150 days before her transmitter popped off. She was re-tagged in August 2018 in the same area by Rafael de la Parra, executive director of Ch'ooj Ajauil AC, an ocean conservation organization in Mexico. De la Parra also collaborated on the study.
After leaving the Afuera area, few detections were received during autumn and winter each year of the study. Rio Lady was believed to travel south into the Caribbean Sea, as far as Colombia for two of the years, before returning to the Gulf of Mexico early in the year. Researchers believe Rio Lady's seasonal migration may be typical for whale sharks that aggregate off the Isla Mujeres in the summer.
Tracking 4 years in the life of a female whale shark shows consistent migrations in the Gulf of Mexico and CaribbeanMarine researchers have mapped the density of one of the most endangered large whale species worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale, using new data to help avoid right whales' harmful exposure to ...
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