Barbed Whale

Introduction

The Barbed Whale (hamatis cete) is a water dwelling giant and the largest fish known to exist. The barbed whale is the only species that belongs to the family Rhincodontidae. This giant fish is found in the oceans around South Africa, Central America, and South America. It can be easily recognized by its abnormally massive size, serrated fins and tail, and unique patterned dots that are spread across its body.

The barbed whale is also a poisonous fish, carrying tetrodotoxin in glands on its skin. This fish grows up to the size of approximately 70-73 ft and because of its size and poisonous glands, has no natural predators.

Etymology

The word barbed whale comes from hamatis cete, meaning barbed whale. This name comes from the distinct serrated fins and tail that are similar to barbs that the barbed whale has along its massive body. The serrated areas of the barbed whale are one of the many characteristics that differentiates the barbed whale from its predecessor, the whale shark. The name ‘whale’ comes from the abnormally large size of the organism, even though the barbed whale, is in fact, a fish.

Habitat and Population

The barbed whale dwells in the waters near South Africa, Central America, and South America. It is often found in the open sea, and only ventures to the deeper parts of the ocean to forage for food. The distribution of barbed whales in the ocean shows where plankton is, since the primary diet of the barbed whale is plankton. Knowing where concentrations of plankton are is extremely helpful since it is what most organisms feed on and can be measured to determine the health of the ocean. Plankton generates about half of our atmosphere's oxygen, therefore being able to monitor the health of the plankton is beneficial to monitoring our planet’s health. The barbed whale population is approximately 880,000. The barbed whale is a mostly solitary creature, with the exception of mating and gatherings around large amounts of plankton to feed. A fully grown barbed whale does not face any predators due to its size, and young barbed whales are not targeted by predators due to the poisonous glands on their skin. Barbed whales are forage fish who primarily feed on plankton and other small copepods. The life cycle of a barbed whale is relatively long when living in the wild, as they can live up to 70-100 years. A barbed whale reaches sexual maturity at the age of 30-40 years. Female barbed whales are ovoviviparous, meaning that the female will lay eggs, but they will develop inside her body until she will eventually give birth. A female can give birth to approximately 300 babies.

History

The barbed whale has evolved from the primitive species of whale shark. The first recorded discovery of the whale shark was in 1828, off the coast of South Africa. 100 years ago, the most prominent threat to whale sharks were humans. Humans poached whale sharks for meat, fins, and oil, which was valued in many international markets. The whale shark was also in danger from bycatch, in which fishermen catch another marine animal besides their target. Tourism was another threat as boat propellers injured these creatures along with interrupting their feeding. The whale shark has evolved into a new species, the barbed whale, gaining traits through darwinian evolution, avoiding extinction. The prior species of whale shark has slowly died out over time. The barbed whale has evolved to have a serrated tail and fins, teradoxin in its skin, along with growing larger and better vision. Since then, stricter laws were put in place to regulate tourism to minimize damage and disturbance of the barbed whale. Young barbed whales were observed to be hunted less over time as more developed the poisonous glands in their skin.

Evolution

The barbed whale has evolved from the whale shark to have a serrated tail and fins, teradoxin in its skin, along with growing larger and better vision. As more of these traits began to appear, less barbed whales were affected by bycatch and natural whale shark predators were observed to hunt other sea dwelling creatures besides young barbed whales because of the toxins they had evolved to have in their skin. This is the largest existing fish in the ocean, growing up to 70-73 ft in length and weighing approximately 87000 lbs. The gigantic size of the barbed whale protects critical organs with the large amount of muscle it has, along with being able to retain and store heat. The fish swims at about 3 mph due to its massive size. This creature is also negatively buoyant, meaning that the barbed whale weighs more than its buoyancy force. This is helpful when this fish forages for food at the bottom of the ocean, as it uses its weight to drift to the bottom of the ocean instead of using energy to swim down. The barbed whale appears to be able to feed for a longer amount of time than the whale shark because its slightly larger size retains more heat when venturing in the colder areas of the ocean. The barbed whale has evolved to have better vision to prolong its ventures to the seafloor to feed. This fish has evolved to have serrated edges to its fins and tail that it has been observed to use to cut out of nets. The barbed whale has a unique pattern of spots on its body that’s purpose is similar to our fingerprint- the spots are completely unique. These spots can be used to identify each barbed whale. Despite its large size, the barbed whale is a filter feeder that primarily feeds on small copepods along with plankton.

Summary

The barbed whale, or hamatis cete, is the largest living fish in the ocean. It lives in tropical waters near Central America, South Africa, and South America, and is a mostly solitary creature. The identifying features of the barbed whale are its massive size, serrated fins and tail, and poisonous skin. This massive creature is a filter feeding fish that feeds on plankton and copepods. This unique species of fish is essential to our oceans and the planet's health as barbed whales help monitor plankton health.

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