One hundred and four new whale shark individuals have been identified in Ticao Pass off the coast of Donsol between January and June 2019, according to a report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Philippines. Whale shark (Rhincodon typus), local known as butanding and classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on their Red List of Threatened Species, is a filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest living fish species in the world. Each whale shark can be identified based on the unique pattern of spots behind its gills, which serves as a “fingerprint” for identification. Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, no two whale sharks have the same spot pattern.

Villanueva, R. (2019, September 6). New whale sharks counted in Donsol. The Philippine Star, p. E6.