2018 Whale Shark Naming Competition – cast your vote!

Whale shark names – cast your vote to be counted!

The tagging of whale sharks forms part of the tagging and tracking research theme and is conducted each year under the direction of our Senior Research Scientist Dr Rich Pillans. Its hoped that the data gathered from tagging these animals will help build a more informed picture on their movements and potential areas of importance to them.

Animals tagged as part of this research are given names and anyone can view their movements at seaturtle.org/tracking! This year we decided to invite you all to suggest and submit suitable names for the whale sharks we intend to tag in June 2018.

The competition closed on the 20th May 2018. It was a tough choice with so many fantastic names submitted.

….but here they are…. our top 6 whale shark names for you to vote on (you can choose up to 3) …

• ‘Eddy – ‘The ocean needs to be cleaned of plastic pollution. Whirlpool is a brand of washing machine & a circular movement of water causing a small whirlpool is an Eddy’ (45%, 79 Votes)
• Morse – ‘Because the Morse Code has dots and dashes just like a whale shark’ (18%, 32 Votes)
• Tiny – ‘As the largest fish in the world, ‘TIny’ seems an appropriately quirky name!’ (11%, 20 Votes)
• Poseidon – ‘Because whale sharks are like the gods of the sea’ (9%, 16 Votes)
• Sprinkles – ‘To represent polka dots on the whale sharks back’ (9%, 16 Votes)
• Chase – ‘Because it is being tagged and chasey is a game of tag’ (7%, 12 Votes)

Total Voters: 133

Entries close 3:00 pm on the 26th May 2018.

Winning names were announced at 3:00 pm on the Talanjee Oval, as part of the Ningaloo Whale Shark Festival in Exmouth.

So what you waiting for… cast your vote and get your friends to as well!

Animals can be tracked here from late June 2018!