How Does Pollution In The Ocean Affect Whale Sharks?
Diana Lukashevych Yasmin Shaib
Grade 6
Presentation
Problem
How does the pollution in the tropical oceans affect whale shark
Method
on realiable sources such as national geographic and other websites online
Research
Whale sharks have about 3,000 small teeth, less than 6 mm long, since whale sharks are carnivore filter sharks they inhale mouthfuls of water and filter out the plankton, small crustaceans, and schooling fish as we stated in the diet page. Not all whale sharks survive to adulthood as after birth they are abandoned to their fate by their mother resulting in only a very small percentage surviving, 10% of whale sharks actually survive to adulthood.
Whale sharks have about 3,000 small teeth, less than 6 mm long, since whale sharks are carnivore filter sharks they inhale mouthfuls of water and filter out the plankton, small crustaceans, and schooling fish as we stated in the diet page. Not all whale sharks survive to adulthood as after birth they are abandoned to their fate by their mother resulting in only a very small percentage surviving, 10% of whale sharks actually survive to adulthood.
Whale sharks prefer warm climates and can be found in both deep and shallow waters between latitudes 30°N and 35°S. They can be most commonly found in Australia, they also can be found in places such as: InDia, The Maldives, South Africa, Belize, Mexico, The Galapagos Islands, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia.
Whale sharks can to birth around 300 young.Whale sharks are ovoviviparous (“live birth of eggs”). In this form of reproduction, internally fertilized eggs remain inside the female's body.Newborn whale sharks, known as pups, range in size from 40 to 60 centimeters.
The only predators is orcas,white sharks and humans.Blue marlin and blue sharks prey on young whale sharks. Humans are the greatest threat to these endangered fish, who are poached illegally and sold as food, and can be injured by large vessels.
Before we look in the main idea we would like to give more info about pollution. Pollution or Pollutants are the things that are released into the ecosystem by humans. Some examples are: They make the quality of air, soil, water, and food worse they also affect the health of human and non-human populations.
The world's oceans occupy more than 70 percent of the Earth, but 40 percent of them are considered damaged.Our ocean is filled with two types of pollution is chemicals and garbage.The biggest piece of trash that ends up in the ocean is plastic.Plastic is dangerous for the oceans and their inhabitants because plastic products can take hundreds of years to decompose.
Garbage threatens the health and lives of ocean inhabitants. It can also cause coral bleaching, and disturbance of the ecosystems. These things can be caused by plastic
Whale sharks feed on many species of aquatic arthropods, such as krill, shrimp and some small fish. Whale sharks prey on plankton and other small aquatic arthropods in the following way: they take all the small aquatic arthropods into their mouths, along with some other small fish.
Sharks may inadvertently pass pollutants to their developing young.Sharks have higher overall vulnerability scores than bony fish, with the whale shark being one of the most vulnerable.The Gulf of Mexico is an important feeding area for whale sharks and giant manta rays, which filter feed at the surface, leading to concerns that both oil spills and the chemical dispersants used to treat spills could be hazardous to their respective gill structures.
They can absorb small particles and toxins, exposing themselves to the harmful effects of these pollutants over time.Because whale sharks swim in polluted waters, they may ingest small particles and toxins, exposing themselves to the harmful effects of these pollutants over time.
As we already know whale sharks are filter feeders, which means the plastics contaminate the plankton and other small fish as well as consuming microplastics, leading to negative impacts on their overall health.
Data
The world's oceans occupy more than 70 percent of the Earth, but 40 percent of them are considered damaged. Whale sharks can to birth around 300 young.Whale sharks are ovoviviparous (“live birth of eggs”).
Newborn whale sharks, known as pups, range in size from 40 to 60 centimeters.
Whale sharks prefer warm climates and can be found in both deep and shallow waters between latitudes 30°N and 35°S.
Whale sharks have about 3,000 small teeth, less than 6 mm long,
10% of whale sharks actually survive to adulthood.
Whale sharks are able to live up to 70 years old while weighing about 20.6 tons.
whale sharks are very huge and their size in length reaches 12 meters.
whale shark populations have declined by more than 50 percent in the last 75 years.)
Conclusion
-whale sharks are filter feeders which simply means they inhale mouthfuls of water and filter out the plankton and shellfish.
- They live in warm water across the natural migratory route.
-A lot of the marine pollution is plastic.
- their most dangerous predators are humans.
- marine pollution can cause coral bleaching and disturbance of the ecosystems.
Further Research
We both looked into it and since I’m planning on becoming a marine biologist since I have a great interest In marine biology and science in general. While Diana on the other hand is planing to research moer basic information.
Citations
Pollution slide: https://ugc.berkeley.edu/background-content/pollutants-and-waste/ https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/marine-pollution/ 11/26/24
Whale sharks diet: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/whale-sharks#:~:text=Although%20whale%20sharks%20are%20the,shark%20in%20the%20Indian%20Ocean. https://oceana.org/marine-life/whale-shark/#:~:text=Despite%20their%20large%20size%2C%20whale,and%20straining%20out%20the%20prey. https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/massive-filter-feeding-shark-you-ought-know#:~:text=Instead%20of%20relying%20on%20teeth,shark%20round%20out%20the%20bunch. https://holboxwhalesharktours.com/10-interesting-facts-about-whale-sharks/#:~:text=Whale%20Sharks%20are%20solitary%20creatures,you%20can't%20see%20them! https://www.sharkbook.ai/whaleshark.pdf 12/24/24
Basic info: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/whale-shark https://search.app/iRzM89fRF7dhgJUw5 01/05/25
Life cycle:https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/cartilaginous-fish/whale-shark/#:~:text=Whale%20sharks%20are%20ovoviviparous%20 https://ecomigrations.com/ultimate-guides-to-la-paz-baja-mexico/life-cycle-of-a-whale-shark/ 02/12/25
Habitat:
marine pollution:https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/marine-pollution/ 02/18/25
How it impacts their diets: https://marinemegafauna.org/field-updates/microplastics-manta-rays-whale-sharks#:~:text=%E2%80%9CManta%20rays%20and%20whale%20sharks,feed%20on%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20adds. 02/18/25
how pollution affects whale sharks life cycle:https://marinemegafauna.org/human-threats-sharks-rays/ocean-pollution 02/18/25
Photo resources
https://seethewild.org/whale-shark-map/ 02/12/25
https://clearlyexplained.com/eggs/index.html 02/12/25
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/whale-sharks 02/16/25
https://underwaterasia.info/reefspotter/whale-sharks 02/16/25
https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animal/whale-shark/ 02/18/25
https://www.direct365.co.uk/blog/in-deep-water-exploring-waste-pollution-in-our-oceans/ 02/18/25
https://justskips.net.au/ocean-pollution-statistics/ 02/18/25
https://www.britannica.com/animal/whale-shark 02/18/25
https://untamedscience.com/biodiversity/whale-shark/ 02/18/25
https://creately.com/diagram/example/iohww7k0/new-whale-shark-food-chain-classic 02/19/25
Acknowledgement
Diana-Mr.Z,my parents,my sister,Liubov,Yuri,Luna and Yasmin
Yasmin-My mom, Katelyn , Mr.Z, Yuri, Ms. Maryam, Mrs. Fox, that one guy in Mexico who gave me a shark tooth, my dad, Bryn, Rayien, Broocklyn, and Simra.