Phytoplanktonbloom and seasonal presence of whale shark (rhincodon typus) along the coast of djibouti - gulf of aden

During a 5 days research expedition performed in January, some observations on a whale shark population were performed. Just 7 specimens have been observed and identified. This number of sharks is lower than that observed in previous reports in the same period for similar research efforts. Recent remote sensing studies showed summer phytoplanktonic bloom higher than in autumn, but no sharks have been recorded suggesting that the quantity of phytoplankton could be not linked with the presence of the whale sharks.