Indian scientists will try to differentiate individual whale sharks off the Gujarat coast, using a method employed by NASA to identify galaxies.

Just as each tiger is distinguished by its stripes, whale sharks too can be recognized through a unique pattern of spots that form points of several triangles on their bodies, say experts.

As the whale shark grows, the distance between these spots increases, but angles of these triangles stay the same, thus identifying the whale shark. This technique is also used by NASA to identify galaxies.

This initiative is part of a study to recognize the migratory pattern, breeding and habitat of whale sharks for future maintenance measures, says Dhiresh Joshi of the NGO Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) that is functioning on the project in partnership with the Gujarat forest department.

It involves taking underwater images of whale sharks and storing them in a global database managed by the NGO Ecocean.