On February 15, Conde Nast Traveller, a luxury travel magazine, published an article by Kris Fordham, a travel writer for the publication, among several others, including CNN Travel and others. In the article, Fordham discussed her experience at Reefsuites, Australia’s first underwater hotel. In a tweet thread based on the article, Conde Nast Traveller published a tweet that attracted a lot of criticism from ocean life lovers.
In the tweet, the publication wrote, “Suddenly, the fish dart away. Out of the depths, a hideous, shark-like creature with mottled grey skin and bulging eyes emerges and begins slinking towards me. Suddenly, his jaws open, revealing rows upon rows of thin, sharp teeth.” The tweet was in direct reference to the article by Fordham. There was a photograph included in the tweet that was of a Whale Shark.
The ocean lovers noticed the tweet and lashed out at the publication for an ‘insensitive’ and ‘disgraceful’ description of an endangered ocean creature. Whale Sharks have ‘vestigial teeth’. They cannot chew or bite. They are filter feeders and live on microscopic food sources like krill, shrimp or plankton. They basically swallow anything that comes in their way, and with hardly 2.5 cm wide throat, it is next to impossible for the Whale Sharks to eat any large animal.
In fact, a Twitter user Magicalfxz, described Whale Sharks as a “teddy bear” of the sea. The user said, “First of all, that’s one of the most docile and gentle giants of the sea they eat krill and plankton, and they love divers near them. The Whale Shark is like a teddy bear of the sea you need to stop with your misinformation.”
First of all that’s one of the most docile and gentle giants of the sea they eat krill and plankton and they love divers near them the Whale Shark is like a teddy bear of the sea you need to stop with your misinformation https://t.co/TECPw5L0B0
— Fawn⚜️ (@Magicalfxz) February 16, 2022
Another user, DiamondSDgaming, urged the publication not to make the animal a villain.
No whale sharks aren’t monsters their a endangered filter feeding shark they are big but peaceful animals the only thing that might run away from this animal is anything that’s microscopic like krill shrimp and plankton
— DiamondSDGaming (@DiamondSDGam) February 16, 2022
Don’t make animals look like a villain. https://t.co/5464vypUD0
A Twitter user LadySrewolf said the language of the article sends a wrong message about the sea creatures. She said, “I understand he’s trying to write a story here, but describing a whale shark as hideous and calling it a sea monster like it will come and get you is an insult. Even if you’re being sarcastic, it sends out a bad message.”
I understand he’s trying to write a story here, but describing a whale shark as hideous and calling it a sea monster like it will come and get you is an insult. Even if you’re being sarcastic, it sends out a bad message.
— Katherine Flowers (@LadySrewolf) February 15, 2022
An Anthropologist, Natalia Reagan, said, “10/10 would hug (but won’t for ethical reasons, mostly having to do with the well-being of said adorable shark)”
10/10 would hug (but won’t for ethical reasons, mostly having to do with the well-being of said adorable shark)
— Natalia “Vaccinate Your Kids” Reagan 🐒🏳️🌈 (@natalia13reagan) February 15, 2022
She was replying to a user Matt Lancaster who pointed out that Whale Shark has a small throat. He said, “Ah yes, the whale shark, the gentle filter feeders that eat krill and plankton predominantly and have a throat only 2.5 cm in diameter. Such scary teeth, lol. Though I will give you that they are indeed sharks (hence the shark-like).”
The wrong choice of image by the publication
In the article, the author was not referring to a Whale Shark but to a Queensland Grouper. Though the Grouper has teeth, the gentle ‘giant’ fish is not in any way hideous. It has teeth and is huge in size, sometimes weighs over 350 KG or 800 pounds, Grouper also prefer to swallow its prey whole. They are not dangerous to humans, but it not is advisable to feed them directly by hand, and divers must be cautious around them because of their curious nature.
The publication used the wrong image and published the tweet with a photograph of a Whale Shark. Both choices of words and choice of the image stirred controversy.
