Oil's impact on whale shark

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill fouled a stretch of feeding habitat for whale sharks, possibly killing some of the world's largest fish, new research suggests. Oil from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon spill, which wasn't capped until mid-July, flowed into an area south of the Mississippi River Delta, where a third of all northern Gulf of Mexico whale shark sightings have occurred in recent years. The spill came at the worst possible time at the worst location for whale sharks, said biologist Eric Hoffmayer, who studies whale sharks at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Some of the whale sharks may have moved away to waters less impacted by the spill. (Source: National Geographic News, 09/24/10)