Observation of whale shark Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 in oceanic waters of the Bay of Bengal, India

The present study was based on sighting of whale shark, Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 on 13th and 14th October 2016 incidentally in oceanic waters of Bay of Bengal at a depth of 3340 and 3270 m. These two sightings were thus confirmed by photographs. Whale sharks were reported in the coastal and near shore regions of India by many of the researchers and this is the first observation of R. typus in oceanic waters of east coast of India.