Yesterday, I posted that Dashi, the Octopod's expedition photographer and computer expert, had left the Octopod on a solo mission to take photos of any caves in a nearby seamount.
Dashi found an underwater cave and swam into it, only it wasn't a cave! It was the mouth of a whale shark!
Whale sharks - which are sharks, not whales, despite the name! - have really big mouths, at least 4 feet across if they are fully grown, and they can be over 40 feet long.
This was a very unusual occurrence. Whale sharks swim very slowly - about as fast in the water as a human being can walk on land - but they are always swimming. But this shark was stationary - that means it wasn't moving, and that's how Dashi mistook it for a cave.
It must have not been feeling well even before it swallowed Dashi and later, Captain Barnacles and Lieutenant Kwazi.
Dashi was taking photographs inside the mouth of the whale shark with a camera that was hooked up by electronic signal to the Octopod's computer. Dr. Shellington realized what had happened, and Captain Barnacles ordered Dashi to swim out of the mouth immediately, but the whale shark closed its mouth and Dashi was trapped.
She didn't panic however. She was now the first person to ever be able to take photos of the inside of a whale shark's mouth, and that's what she did. She knew Captain Barnacles and the rest of the Octonauts would rescue her.
Captain Barnacles, Kwazi and Peso got into the Gup-E and went in search of the whale shark. Tweak gave the Captain a whale shark detector.
Captain Barnacles and Kwazi left the Gup-E to look around, and they learned a lesson about not keeping an alert eye out. They were also swallowed by the whale shark!
Peso, inside the Gup-E, did not panic. He could hear the whale shark moaning and knew it was sick. He took his medical bag and left the Gup-E to help, even though he was a little bit afraid of the gigantic creature.
Meantime, Kwazi, Captain Barnacles and Dashi tried to figure out how to escape from the whale shark's mouth.
As soon as the whale shark opened its mouth, Captain Barnacles, Kwazi and Dashi swam to safety.
Captain Barnacles, Kwazi, Dashi and Peso look at the whale shark. They see that it's mouth is in the middle of its face. This is different from most sharks. Their mouths are underneath their heads. The whale shark's mouth is placed like this so it can swim along and filter feed. It swims along and small sea creatures are swept into its mouth.
After the Octonauts swam out of the whale shark's mouth, it apparently felt much better, and swam away with a wave of its fins.
The Octonauts returned to the Octopod and discussed the lessons they had learned. Captain Barnacles said he would always make sure he kept his eye on his surroundings from now on, so that a big fish couldn't sneak up on him or any of his crew and swallow them. Dashi said she would make sure a cave was really a cave before she swam in to one again!
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