Rare Whale Shark Sighting Near Vizag Coast

In a rare marine sighting off the city’s coastline, a team of scuba divers from Dive Adda encountered a whale shark near Chinna Rushikonda on Sunday morning (January 18, 2026), creating excitement among the diving community.

The whale shark — the largest fish species in the world and listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List — was estimated to be around 10 metres long. The sighting was made when a group of scuba instructors, accompanied by two students, were returning after a routine dive session in the waters off Visakhapatnam.

According to the divers, the gentle giant was calmly trailing a school of fish when it came into view, allowing them a brief yet close underwater encounter.

Bhadram Rasamsetty, a former naval officer and founder of Dive Adda, said it was the first time scuba divers had spotted a whale shark at such close range off Visakhapatnam. “It was around 100 metres from the coast and appeared undisturbed by our presence. We observed it for nearly five minutes before it glided away and vanished into deeper waters,” said Vysakh Sivarajan, scuba diving instructor at Dive Adda.

Though whale shark strandings have been reported occasionally along the Visakhapatnam coastline over the years, live sightings in the open sea are considered extremely rare.