The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea – they grow up to 18 metres long. Despite the name, they’re not whales at all. The move slowly and are filter-feeders, so they are totally harmless.
Whale sharks can have mouths over a metre in width, and weigh up to 15 tonnes. They have 2 dorsal fins and an anal fin, 5 gill slits, a very wide mouth, small eyes and a spiracle (a round hole behind the eyes). Whale sharks are closely related to the wobbegong shark, a bottom-dwelling shark.
The whale sharks come to Ningaloo Marine Park between April and July each year.
The seasonal aggregation of whale sharks in the Ningaloo Marine Park is linked with an increase in the productivity of the ocean around the time of the mass coral spawning in March/April each year. Ningaloo Reef is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks appear regularly in numbers.
Dive Christmas Island - The 4th annual Underwater Festival will be held from Saturday the 24th to Friday the 30th of April 2010 on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
Christmas Island diving is endless kilometres of spectacular wall diving, untouched corals, undersea caves, hundreds of species of tropical fish, dolphins, whalesharks, and warm clear water. Truly a dive destination that has it all.
Join us as we dive in, explore and discover Christmas Island’s amazing underwater paradise.
Every year between the months of May and September, thousands of Giant Australian Cuttlefish (Sepia apama) descend on the rocky coastline between Fitzgerald Bay and False Bay. These amazing ‘chameleons of the sea’ are one of the largest species of cuttlefish found in the world; and can reach up to 60 cm in length and can weigh up to 5kg.
The migration by these majestic creatures to these waters is for the sole purpose of spawning. During these months, the female attaches her eggs to the underside of the rocky ledges around the area. The male then fertilises these eggs, which hatch a couple of months later. The males can only reproduce once, and as with the females die not long after.
Starts: 1st Apr, 12:00AM 
Starts: 24th Apr, 9:00AM 
Starts: 1st May, 12:00AM