Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) photo (and Picture) gallery of the largest known fish. Whale Shark picture gallery and information. Includes links to species classification.

Whale Shark Rhincodon typus

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest known fish. It reaches 15 m in length, and may reach 18 m or more. Its weight can exceed 10 tons. This creature ranges all tropical waters, and infrequently strays into temperate ones. It is mainly solitary in nature, and, despite its impressive appearance, it is harmless to humans. Scuba divers and underwater swimmers have clambered unmolested over its body.

The whale shark feeds chiefly on plankton, but also consumes sardines and anchovies.

Western Australia is privileged to be the only place in the world known to be visited by the mysterious whale shark on a regular basis.

Each year, just days after the mass spawning of corals on the Ningaloo Reef (near Exmouth) in March and April, whale sharks appear in the waters along the front of the reef, remaining for up to a month. It is thought that they come to feed on an explosion of marine life that feeds on the coral spawn.

Most of these visiting whale sharks are immature males. It remains an intriguing puzzle why this particular section of the population visits our coast.

Whale sharks will grow to over 12 metres in length, which is about the size of a large bus. These gentle ocean giants are often confused with whales because of their large size and feeding habits. They are, however, sharks, albeit the least fearsome of this group, and their closest relatives are the nurse and wobbegong sharks.

Whale sharks are not aggressive, and like the second largest of all sharks - the slightly smaller basking shark - cruise the oceans feeding on concentrations of zooplankton, small fish and squid. The whale shark's mouth contains 300 rows of tiny teeth, but ironically, they neither chew nor bite their food.

Instead, the sharks use a fine mesh of rakers attached to their gills to strain food from the water. These rakers are functionally similar to the baleen plates possessed by many whales.

Biologists have speculated that whale sharks feed by literally vacuuming food from the water. However, researchers at Ningaloo have observed that the sharks usually feed by actively swimming through a mass of zooplankton or small fish with their mouths wide open. Whale sharks have also been observed to hang vertically in the water and feed by sucking water into their mouths.

Very little is known about the reproduction of whale sharks, most information coming from a single egg found in the Gulf of Mexico. It is thought that the young develop in egg cases that are retained in the mother's body until hatching. Despite their large adult size, whale sharks are very small at birth, probably 40 to 50 centimetres.

Whale sharks occur worldwide in tropical and temperate seas and are thought to be highly migratory. However, there is little information currently available on this aspect of their behaviour.

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The Whale Shark
Whale Shark - Zoom Sharks
Whale Shark

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