We've learned more about #whalesharks in the last decade than all the preceding years combined, so by way of #DecadeinReview, here's my take on some of the key developments (a thread) 
A quick squizz at #GoogleScholar shows 1,690 entries for Rhincodon typus (the scientific name of whale shark) before 2010, and 3,800 entries since. I know there's a big date bias in GS, but little doubt that it's been a huge decade for WS #science
One of the Big Things that emerged was the phenomenon of whale shark *aggregations*, or as we like to think of them, *constellations*. The biggest known to science, >400 animals at once, was described in 2011 journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
We know know of >20 places around the world where these happen with regularity. Try googling: Oslob, Leyte, Cenderawasih, Garontalo, St. Helena, La Paz, Bahia de los Angeles, Isla Mujeres, Nosy Be, Mozambique, Gujarat, Al Shaheen, Ningaloo, Maldives & Seychelles
The phenomenon of seasonal whale shark constellations was reviewed by Brad Norman et al. They are typically for the purposes of feeding & are dominated by juvenile males, which limits what we can learn & raises questions about other demographic sectors academic.oup.com/bioscience/art…
A key publication in the last decade was the review by Rowat & Brooks in 2012, which comprehensively compiled the state of knowledge of our spotty friends. It's a must read for anyone curious about whale shark #biology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
In 2013 I and others resurrected a dormant meeting, the International Whale Shark Conference, by holding the 3rd one at @GeorgiaAquarium in #Atlanta. We held a sidecar workshop to review the @IUCNRedList status of whale sharks. Proceedings in @thePeerJ peerj.com/collections/3-…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ Subsequent IWSC were held in Qatar in 2016 and Ningaloo in 2019. Next one TBD... qscience.com/content/procee…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ The #IUCNRedList status of #whalesharks was upgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2016, obviously a step in the wrong direction. The change was driven largely by steep declines in W. Indian Ocean population & concern about #IUUfishing iucnredlist.org/species/19488/…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ The complete #genome of the whale shark was published in 2017 and I was privileged to be a part of that team. It was the first elasmobranch (shark) to have a fully sequenced and assembled genome, which makes it important for comparative #evolution studies bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ You can read some of the more recent in depth analysis of the genome, led by @mtanichthys here: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys Recently, there has been growing concern about the impact of whale shark tourism on their health and populations. It's a complex topic, but it's telling that the 6 most recent publications in Google Scholar about WS are ALL about tourism impacts
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys Perhaps my favourite development of recent years has been the transition from purely descriptive papers (we saw X whale sharks at site Y), through movement ecology (SO much tagging...), to studies that begin to address what makes whale sharks tick on the inside
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys Building on work from aquarium animals in Japan and the US, we've learned to take blood and other samples from free ranging whale sharks, which opens up huge new possible lines of inquiry. Read more about this sort of work in #Galapagos here: marinemegafaunafoundation.org/blog/underwate…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys And some of my own work with partners in #Indonesia and from @ConservationOrg here: theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys @ConservationOrg The teens were an amazing decade for the world's biggest fish. This thread was just a smattering of highlights, but clearly we can't claim we don't know anything about this animal anymore. So what about #2020 and beyond?
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys @ConservationOrg Well, we might know a lot, but some of our knowledge gaps are pretty big ones. We still don't know where they breed, where they are born, longevity (modeling says ~150yrs), their natural and human-caused mortality rates, or have a good global estimate of population size...
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys @ConservationOrg If the last decade is anything to go by, it will be awesome to do another thread in 10 more years that hopefully answers some of these questions (assuming twitter still exists in 2030!). Have a great year folks, keep sciencing, and best fishes from me & my "little" friends. end.
@GeorgiaAquarium @IUCNRedList @thePeerJ @mtanichthys @ConservationOrg @threadreaderapp unroll please
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