Whale shark “Elise” returns to the Galápagos after seven months

The approximately 10.5 m long female whale shark with tracking number #262715 was named “Elise.” On June 21, 2024, the Galápagos Whale Shark Project team spotted Elise off Darwin Arch and tagged her with a transmitter.

Since then, her migration has been followed with excitement, as researchers know that some of the large females sighted in the Galápagos Marine Reserve return there. Photos of the area behind the left pectoral fin make it possible to identify the animals unambiguously. These photos are then uploaded to the Wildbook for Sharks and are publicly available. This way, any diver who sees a whale shark and can fotograf it can check whether this shark is already known.

However, it was not previously known where their migrations took them in the meantime. Until now, it has not been possible to track a tagged animal throughout its entire journey. There are many reasons for this. Whale sharks can dive very deep, which is a problem for the transmitters, which cannot withstand the pressure of the deep sea. Transmitters can also be lost, or the sharks can fall victim to fishing fleets or die of natural causes.

But Elise is the first whale shark whose 12,000 km journey across the Pacific Ocean has been tracked. She was spotted off the western Galápagos Islands in February 2025 after seven months. This is a historic success for the Galapagos Whale Shark Project! 

The team will continue to track Elise in the future to gather even more information about the life of these unique animals. This data is important for developing strategies to help protect whale sharks in the long term.

We wish Elise all the best for her future travels.