Summary of <i>R. typus</i> tracks at Darwin Island in 2013.

<p>Summary of <i>R. typus</i> tracks at Darwin Island in 2013.</p

Location of the whale shark study area.

<p>A) Tracks of the four <i>R. typus</i> around Darwin Island with its bathymetry (10 m isobaths); B) Galapagos Archipelago's setting in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (Ecuador national territory in dark grey); C) Galapagos Islands with the Galapagos Marine Reserve boundaries that extends 40 nm from the islands (discontinued line).</p

Whale sharks dive profiles at Darwin Island.

<p>Plots showing dive profile and bottom depth of RT-01 (A), RT-02 (B), RT-03 (C: Nov 14^th, and D: Nov 15^th, the latter only showing her dive profile during the time she remained in the vicinity of the island (<1.3 nm)) and RT-04 (E: Nov 16^th, and F: Nov 17^th), respectively. Signal from RT-03 was lost from 13:33 PM to 14:32 PM on Nov 14^th (C). Note that bottom depth contour was obtained from skiff position, so sharks dive's and bottom depth's profiles relationship may not coincide exactly with the reality. For this reason shark dive profiles overlap with bottom depth in few occasions, especially at shallow areas (<30 m).</p

Size-frequency distribution.

<p>Size measurements by laser photogrammetry (N = 47; dark grey bars and dotted line) and visual estimation (N = 35; light grey bars and dotted line) of the 82 whale sharks photo-identified at Darwin Island, Galapagos Marine Reserve, between 2011 and 2013.</p

Visual evidence of <i>R. typus</i> possible pregnancy.

<p>Image of two female whale sharks recorded at Darwin Island that displayed different signs of pregnancy (A) a 9.3 m TL female sighted on November 18^th 2013 with its belly not distended; (B) a 12 m TL female sighted on October 20^th 2012 with a clear distended belly, which is a sign of pregnancy (Ramírez-Macías et al. 2012b); (photo credit: David Acuña-Marrero).</p

Relationship between SST and sighting frequency of <i>R. typus</i>.

<p>Least square regression's result between SST and whale shark sightings per diver hour⁻¹ in the vicinity of Darwin's Arch from November 2007 to December 2013.</p