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Whale Shark Photographed When Almost Swallowed a Man
NewsInABox ^ | Saturday, July 23rd 2011 | Chris Rembrant

Posted on 07/24/2011 11:01:10 AM PDT by nickcarraway

A diver that was close to be swallowed by a whale shark while the giant was feeding with plankton was captured by a photographer. Mauricio Handler took the picture in the waters of Mujeres Island in Mexico.

It was a moment when all the 600 whale sharks from that area gathered at one place to feed with plankton, according to Daily Mail in the online edition.

This is a very usual thing, that the whale sharks to gather every years into the Mexico’s waters in order to feed them but they aren’t a danger for the divers. The animals are swimming with their huge mouths open in order to have a big quantity of water and food.

The picture that Handler took appears to be a very dangerous scene, but in fact there isn’t because the animals are inoffensive for the humans, even though there is a hard thing to believe.

The mouth of a whale shark can reach 1,5 meters width and it has 350 rows of teeth. Handler said after this one in a life time event that the image with the diver that was very close to the whale shark’s mouth was an incredible adrenaline scene.

He admitted that in the moment when someone is on water and around him there are only fishes there is a completely new world out there, with other rules and beautiful things. He said that the incident happened right in the moment that the whale shark was feeding and the animal went on his colleague’s direction. He said that the danger didn’t exist because the whale sharks don’t have such a good sight, but anyway his colleague succeeded to leave from that direction. But, if the whale shark had been swallow his colleague by accident, the animal had been spit him out immediately. The whale shark is the biggest fish in the world, but is not dangerous for the people. The animal can have a weight of 40 tons and it feeds with planktons and little fish. Because of the animal’s conduct around the people a lot of photographers wanted over the time to capture it into their pictures.

The scientists from Mozambique tried to measure last year a whale shark and they photographed the animal with a very performing device that uses the laser technology. They wanted to know the period in which the whale shark gets to 20 meters length.


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals
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1 posted on 07/24/2011 11:01:15 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Babelfish translation?

Cool photo, though. :-)


2 posted on 07/24/2011 11:04:13 AM PDT by RobRoy (The US today: Revelation 18:4)
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To: nickcarraway
That photo is insane! Should be in contention for photograph of the year, in some category.
3 posted on 07/24/2011 11:10:59 AM PDT by IllumiNaughtyByNature ($1.84 - The price of a gallon of gas on Jan. 20th, 2009.)
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To: RobRoy

I agree.


4 posted on 07/24/2011 11:11:43 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: nickcarraway

5 posted on 07/24/2011 11:15:04 AM PDT by null and void (Day 914. When your only tools are a Hammer & Sickle, everything looks like a Capitalist...)
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To: nickcarraway

Jonah?

6 posted on 07/24/2011 11:15:26 AM PDT by Palter (Celebrate diversity .22, .223, .25, 9mm, .32 .357, 10mm, .44, .45, .500)
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To: nickcarraway

Wow, almost the story of Jonah.


7 posted on 07/24/2011 11:19:46 AM PDT by Aria ( "If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.")
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To: nickcarraway

ya, I’m sure the whale would spit him out right away, forgive my cynicism heh. Although maybe... after all Jonah was spit out, but it took 3 days.


8 posted on 07/24/2011 11:21:29 AM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: nickcarraway
I'm not totally buying the story that the diver was never in danger. Even had the whale immediately spit the diver out, he could have lost his oxygen and been in danger of not getting back to the surface in time.

Frankly, I'd rather stick to the other side of the food chain. Some fish on the grill sounds great for this afternoon.

9 posted on 07/24/2011 11:27:31 AM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: nickcarraway

The guy wouldn’t have even qualified as an appetizer.


10 posted on 07/24/2011 11:31:53 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: SamAdams76
Years ago my family and I were on our 30ft Chris Craft on our way to Catalina and we hit a Whale Shark, the fish was fine we were a little worried about our hull at the time though,lol
11 posted on 07/24/2011 11:37:37 AM PDT by cmsgop ( The left always accuses the right for the sins of the left. from FReeper Just Lori, RIP)
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To: nickcarraway

According to International Geographic, if he did get swallowed whole, the guy could have swam out of the stomach, across the idio syncratic membrane, through the abdullah oblongata and climbed out the blow hole.


12 posted on 07/24/2011 11:39:31 AM PDT by Krankor (I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in.)
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To: SamAdams76

“I’m not totally buying the story that the diver was never in danger. Even had the whale immediately spit the diver out, he could have lost his oxygen and been in danger of not getting back to the surface in time.”


Yeah, 350 rows of teeth could certainly complicate the process of extracting oneself. This was definately a case of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!


13 posted on 07/24/2011 11:40:39 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: nickcarraway

Heck, that’s nothing. Same thing happens anytime someone gets between Michelle 0 and a dessert bar.


14 posted on 07/24/2011 11:43:40 AM PDT by Hunton Peck (See my FR homepage for a list of businesses that support WI Gov. Scott Walker)
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To: Krankor

He would have needed a knife. Whale sharks don’t have blowholes.


15 posted on 07/24/2011 11:48:44 AM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: Leroy S. Mort

According to International Geographic, he could simply grab one of the many cuttlefish in the whale’s stomach (or tummy) and use that to “saw” his way out through the non-existent blowhole. It’s very similar to the escape in The Poseidon Adventure. I suggest you watch a few more movies before you go around making snotty remarks.


16 posted on 07/24/2011 11:55:03 AM PDT by Krankor (I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in.)
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To: Hunton Peck

Priceless!!


17 posted on 07/24/2011 11:57:20 AM PDT by GoldenPup
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To: nickcarraway
it has 350 rows of teeth

Why would it need teeth, much less 350 rows of teeth, to eat plankton and small fish?

18 posted on 07/24/2011 12:29:29 PM PDT by MosesKnows (Love many, Trust few, and always paddle your own canoe)
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To: nickcarraway

It most likely would have spat him out - a whale shark’s throat is tiny - about the size of your wrist. They probably know how to avoid sucking in stuff that’s too big to eat, so I doubt it would have even allowed him into its mouth at all.


19 posted on 07/24/2011 12:34:07 PM PDT by Mongeaux (''I would sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory," W.F. Buckley)
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20 posted on 07/24/2011 12:34:28 PM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list.)
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