-- Tlingit legend of Natsilane
••• offshoot of mockingnerd's tumblr, concentrating solely on marine life.
Friendly dolphin Dave passes a fish to a swimmer in Folkestone, Kent. Terry Whittaker, from Sandgate, Kent, has spent the last five years travelling around the UK and Ireland taking shots of wild dolphins at play.
In Kiswahili the whale shark is called “papa shillingi”, which means “shark covered in shillings”. The Kenyan legend tells that God was so pleased when he created this beautiful fish that he gave his angels handfuls of gold and silver coins to throw down from Heaven onto its back; the whale sharks swim near the surface, catching the sun on their backs, as a way of saying thank you to their maker.
The whale shark is known as “marokintana” in Madagascar, which means “many stars”.
The whale shark is revered as a deity in Vietnamese culture, where it is known as “Ca Ong”, which literally translates to “Sir Fish”.
Whale sharks are considered vulnerable by the IUCN. Although the fishing, selling, exporting and importing of whale sharks was banned in the Philippines in 1998, India in 2001, and Taiwan in 2007, hunting of the species continues.
A female whale shark caught off the Taiwanese coast in 1995 was found to be carrying over 300 embryos at differing stages of development, leading scientists to suggest that females can store sperm after mating and fertilize eggs as they are produced.
Whale sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning “egg live birth”. The embryos form inside membranous shells that are shed within the mother, who then gives birth to them live.
Whale sharks use their entire bodies as they swim and reach an average speed of about 3.1 mph.
