A diver swims with a whale shark in the waters near the Philippines in this undated photo. Captured from Philippines' Department of Tourism
A fishing boat reported sighting a whale shark in the waters near Jeju Island, Wednesday.
A video uploaded to fishing vessel Seungryong's social media account shows the distinct white spots and the broad head shape of a whale shark, estimated to be around 3 meters in length.
While whale sharks are typically found in tropical waters, they have been sighted in waters near Korea in recent years, a trend attributed to warmer ocean temperatures as a result of climate change.
Korean waters have traditionally been a crossroads for cold and warm ocean currents, but a 2020 study found that the sea surface temperature of Korean waters has been increasing nearly 2.5 times higher than the global average.
