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SUMMARY:How Can We Lose a Bus-Sized Fish? Exploring the Hidden Life of the
  Whale Shark - Simon Pierce - Marine Megafauna Association\, Mozambique
DTSTART:20120410T150000Z
DTEND:20120410T160000Z
UID:TALK36990@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Oskar Brattstrom
DESCRIPTION:Whale sharks\, the world's largest fish\, are a focal species 
 for marine tourism industries in all the tropical oceans. However\, most w
 hale shark 'hotspots' are linked to ephemeral biological phenomena such as
  fish spawning events\, meaning the sharks are present for only a few days
  or weeks of the year. Sexual segregation is inherent within these coastal
  feeding aggregations\, which are significantly dominated by juvenile male
  sharks. Once they disperse\, their movements are largely a mystery. Basic
  questions about the biology and ecology of whale sharks still remain unan
 swered. Where are the females? Where are the adults? Satellite-tagging stu
 dies have proven that whale sharks routinely travel thousands of kilometre
 s through the open ocean but\, in an apparent contradiction\, photo-matchi
 ng comparisons between major aggregation sites have shown little evidence 
 of connectivity. The advent of a global database for whale shark identific
 ation photographs (www.whaleshark.org) has helped to reinvent the way thes
 e ocean giants are researched through recruiting thousands of scientists a
 nd SCUBA divers from 45+ countries to one cooperative project. Coupled wit
 h use of the latest electronic tags and chemical techniques\, this initiat
 ive may finally allow us to find these elusive 'lost giants'.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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