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Whale Shark

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Whale shark images (Rhincodon typus) - stock photos, illustrations and facts on the largest living fish

Conservation status | Threatened > Endangered
Scientific classification | Kingdom: Animalia > Phylum: Chordata > Class: Chondrichthyes > Order: Orectolobiformes > Family: Rhincodontidae > Genus: Rhincodon > Species: R. typus
Binomial name | Rhincodon typus

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is the largest living fish species, reaching up to 40 feet in length, and weighing up to 47,000 pounds. It lives in the open ocean in tropical and warm temperate waters worldwide, and can live to be 70 or more years old. Whale sharks have very distinctive markings with a mostly grey body, white belly, and covered in a pattern of pale yellow spots and stripes which are unique to each animal allowing them to be easily identified. They have five pairs of gills, and small eyes on the front of its wide, flat head. Whale sharks are mostly solitary, large groups are rare.

Whale sharks have huge mouths with many tiny teeth, and are filter feeders, feeding solely on phytoplankton, algae, plankton, krill and small squid and vertebrates. They feed by taking in large amounts of water into the mouth, then forcing that water out through the gills, trapping the food in the gill plates. It is an active feeder, seeking out concentrations of plankton, and can feed by gulping, unlike the basking shark that is a passive feeder collecting food as it swims along.

The whale shark is viviparous, giving birth to live young nearly two feet long, and pregnant females have been killed containing hundreds of pups. They are believed to reach sexual maturity at 30 years old.

The whale shark is a gentle creature, and not dangerous to people, and usually indifferent to divers. However, people are dangerous to whale sharks, and they are listed as "Vulnerable" with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The sharks are at risk from being struck by boats while feeding, and are targeted by commercial fisheries in several areas. Whale shark fins are sold in Hong Kong and other Asian markets, and the liver oil is used for waterproofing boats and in the manufacture of shoe polish.

All fishing, selling, importing and exporting of whale sharks for commercial purposes is now banned in the Philippines, India, and Taiwan, because of the serious impact on the species.
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