Galápagos Whale Shark Breaks Speed Swimming Record

GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS - Marine researchers tagged a young female whale shark in 2019, rightly naming her Esperanza and have been tracking her movements to help better understand whale shark behavior in the Galapagos geography.

Little did they know, Esperanza would go on to break the Guinness Book of Whale Shark World Records. Tracking data revealed Esperanza swimming at the recently-though-impossible speed of 8 knots, a speed measurable to the average Chinese fishing vessel and twice as fast as any other recorded whale shark.

“This is a really incredible discovery and demonstrates how little we really know about the ocean and it’s creatures,” concludes one biologist.

After thirty minutes of this powerhouse swimming effort, Esperanza’s tracking device attached to her dorsal fin had gone completely dark. “In all likelihood,” another biologist explains, “The tracking device simply couldn’t hold up to Esperanza’s fantastic velocity. It probably fell off mid swim and sank to the ocean floor.”