A whale shark has been observed for the first time feeding on the sea floor, rather than filtering plankton from the sea surface.
The unusual behavior was spotted on a whale shark tour in Baja California Sur, Mexico, by an ecotourism guide who sent the footage (above) to researchers for analysis.
A 5 meter long juvenile was observed sucking sand at around 6 meters depth, appearing to swallow material from the substrate.
“No one has ever seen this behavior before,” Darren Whitehead tells Shark research in Mexicowho studied the images.
Whale sharks (type of rhinoceros) are the biggest fish…