Mote tags whale sharks off Sarasota County shore

Following reports of whale shark sightings in early June, Mote Marine Laboratory was able to locate the animals and tag two of them June 14.

Mote scientists located five whale sharks, which can be identified by their polka-dotted pattern, offshore Longboat Key and New Pass.

Earlier this month, five of the sharks were spotted 40 miles off Anna Maria Island. When Mote scientists found the animals, they were feeding at the surface, possibly on fish eggs and plankton, a statement from Mote said.

“It is not uncommon for whale sharks to be spotted feeding in the Gulf this time of year, but the duration of their stay is longer than in previous years,” said Dr. Robert Hueter, senior scientist and director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote in the statement. “Reported sightings are usually scattered, but the sharks’ locations have stayed pretty stable, as most sightings have been about 30-40 miles off Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key.”

At the time of the original sighting, Heuter said in a statement he and his partners wanted to attach satellite tags to one more of the sharks to collect data on their location, temperatures and depths they live in over a six-month period.

“The tags incorporate archival data collection and storage as well as Fastloc GPS location detection,” Jack Morris, senior biologist at Mote, sadi in the statement. “This configuration provides GPS location data that can be received via satellite, and long-term depth and temperature data that can be retrieved once the tags release in six months.”

The first shark to be tagged was named Colt after Captain Wylie Nagler’s son. He is a 16-foot long male. He was tagged around 12:30 p.m. about 40 miles offshore. As the Mote team traveled back to shore around 2 p.m. with Nagler of Yellowfin Yachts, they found a 22- to 25-foot female, the statement said. Named after Walt Disney’s Minnie Mouse, her unique spot patterns were photographed for future identification. Three more whale sharks were found and photographed as well.

The tags were attached using a titanium-head dart on the end of a wooden pole. In total, the expedition took about six hours.

“Right now, we don’t know if there’s a greater than normal abundance of whale sharks in the area,” Hueter said in the statement. “There could be other reasons for these longer-duration sightings such as better ocean conditions for spotting the sharks, the opening of red snapper season drawing more boats offshore or the increased prevalence of smartphones to capture photos and videos of marine life.”