Fin-mounted cameras reveal 36 new whale shark feeding behaviors

In a study released in late July 2026, scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science examined video captured by small cameras affixed to the fins of several whale sharks off Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. The footage, originally recorded during a 2018 expedition, allowed the team to catalogue 36 distinct feeding behaviors, far exceeding earlier records. Observations revealed that the gentle giants feed throughout the water column, from slow, mouth-open descents to the seafloor to rapid pursuits of surface krill swarms, contradicting the prior belief that they mainly feed near the surface.

The camera tags were programmed to release after 24 hours, ensuring no lasting impact on the sharks. By integrating this visual data with more than a hundred scientific articles, researchers underscored the species' versatile foraging strategies in environments where prey is patchily distributed. The institute emphasized that expanding such tagging efforts at global aggregation sites could further illuminate the ecology of this endangered filter-feeder.