Longest migration (Shark)
Last updated: May 12, 2020 at 16:56 pm
20,142 km (12,516 miles) — A whale shark (Rinchodon typus) was tracked by satellite from Panama to the Mariana Trench between April 2012 and December 2013. If measured in a straight line, the distance covered totals 13,819 km (8,887 miles).
The blue shark‘s (Prionace glauca) Atlantic Ocean migration covers 5,980 km (3,470 miles). The blue shark is a pelagic, circumglobal species whose fins make up the largest proportion of the world fin trade with an estimated 20 million individuals caught annually. The blue shark is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
Guzman, Hector & Gomez, Catalina & Hearn, Alex & Eckert, Scott. (2018). Longest recorded trans-Pacific migration of a whale shark (Rhincodon typus). Marine Biodiversity Records. 11. 10.1186/s41200-018-0143-4.
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Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.