Whale shark Rhincodon typus foraging on small schooling fish in the northern Mexican Caribbean

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) aggregates in the Mexican Caribbean from May to September to feed on mixed zooplankton patches and fish spawn. For the first time in this area, we present evidence of observations of whale sharks feeding on schools of small fish, two in 2017 (10 individuals per flight) and one in 2024 (19 individuals). This fact shows that there is another food source for the species at this site, which may be used as an alternative to meet their energy demands when zooplankton is scarce.