Whale Sharks of Hawai’i

April 21, 2021

Travis Marcoux, Chief Technical Scientist, Hawaii Uncharted Research Collective

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are known to be the largest fish in the world with some individuals measuring 20 meters (60 feet) long and weighing around 40 tons. Despite their tremendous size, they are gentle giants, using their nearly 1.5 m-wide (5-foot) mouths to filter plankton out of large volumes of water as they swim. Very little is known about whale sharks in Hawai‘i. The researchers at Hawai‘i Uncharted Research Collective started this non-profit organization for this very reason.