Whale Shark
“ Most whale photos you see show whales in this beautiful blue water - it's almost like space. ”
– Brian Skerry
Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Orectolobiformes
Family: Rhincodontidae
Genius: Rhincodon
Species: Rhincodon typus
Descendant: carpet sharks
Named by: Sir Andrew Smith
Year Published: 1858
Size: 19,000 kilograms in weight; 5.5 – 10 meters in length
Type: Cartilaginous Fishes (Sharks)
Title: Largest Fish
Pantheon: Terran
Time Period: Oligocene - Holocene
Alignment: Passive
Threat Level: ★★
Diet: Filter Feeder 🦠🐟
Elements: Water
Inflicts: n/a
Weaknesses: Electric, leaf
Casualties: n/a
Based On: itself
Conservation Status: Endangered (EN) - IUCN Red List
Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m. The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living non-mammalian vertebrate.
Etymology
The name "whale shark" refers to the fish's size, being as large as some species of whales, and also to its being a filter feeder like baleen whales.
Physical Appearance
The whale shark is the largest non-cetacean animal in the world. Evidence suggests that whale sharks exhibit sexual dimorphism with regards to size, with females growing larger than males. It was discovered that whale sharks have dermal denticles on the surface of their eyeballs, which are constructed differently from their body denticles. The whale shark's spiracles are positioned right behind the eyes, and its eyes are blue. The whale shark's capacity to withdraw its eye far into its socket and these denticles both help to protect the eye from harm. The gills of a whale shark are five enormous pairs.
Their belly is white, with pale grey or white stripes and markings that are specific to each individual, and their skin is dark grey. Its skin is extremely hard and harsh to the touch and can be up to 15 cm thick. Along its flanks, the whale shark has three distinct ridges that begin above and behind the head and stop at the caudal peduncle. The shark has one medial anal fin, two pectoral fins, two pelvic fins, and two dorsal fins that are rather far back on the body. Heterocercal means that the upper and lower lobes of the tail are different sizes. Over 300 rows of small teeth and 20 filter pads may be present in a whale shark's mouth, which it employs to filter prey. The whale shark is the world's biggest non-cetacean animal.
Abilities
Whale sharks can gulp the water before the attack. It is capable of producing a wind blast creating a sort of "sonic beam" tainted with the sleep and hallucination (from the small amount of left over of planktons) powerful enough to shoot down which can send nearby objects flying.
Ecology
The whale shark is a filter feeder – one of only three known filter-feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on plankton including copepods, krill, fish eggs, Christmas Island red crab larvae and small nektonic life, such as small squid or fish. It also feeds on clouds of eggs during mass spawning of fish and corals. The many rows of vestigial teeth play no role in feeding. Due to their mode of feeding, whale sharks are susceptible to the ingestion of microplastics.
This litter established that whale sharks develop by aplacental yolk-sac viviparity, with embryos hatching from eggs within the female. The range of developmental stages in this litter suggested ongoing fertilization over an extended period of time, with embryos of different ages possibly sired by different males. The range of developmental stages of embryos from this single sire further suggests that female whale sharks may have the ability to store sperm for later fertilization.
There are few predators of whale sharks such as great white sharks, tiger sharks, and orcas (also known as killer whales), all prey upon younger. Such predators don't prey on larger whale sharks because they're just too big for predators to challenge.
Behavior
Despite its size, the whale shark does not pose any danger to humans or others, being as apex predators. Whale sharks are docile fish and sometimes allow swimmers to catch a ride, although this practice is discouraged by shark scientists and conservationists because of the disturbance to the sharks. Younger whale sharks are gentle and can play with divers.
Distribution and Habitat
The whale shark inhabits all tropical and warm-temperate seas worldwide.
Movement Pattern: random
Population Trend: Decreasing
Population: ???
Locomotion: Aquatic
Habitat: All
Earth: see below
Native: American Samoa; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Colombia; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Cook Islands; Costa Rica; Cuba; Curaçao; Djibouti; Dominica; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Fiji; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Ivory Coast; Israel; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kenya; Kiribati; Liberia; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Montserrat; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nauru; New Caledonia; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Niue; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Pitcairn; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Qatar; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Sao Tome and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Suriname; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Togo; Tokelau; Tonga; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu; United Arab Emirates; United States; Uruguay; Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Wallis and Futuna; Western Sahara; Yemen
Vagrant: Aotearoa; Canada
Berbania: worldwide
Reinachos: worldwide
Delphia: worldwide
Sawintir: worldwide
Tamed
Whale sharks cannot be tamed.
Lore
Coming soon
Gallery
2020 version
2023 Version
Foreign Languages
Tagalog: Butanding, Isdantuko
Malagasy: Marokintana
Indonesian: Hiu paus
Thai: ปลาฉลามวาฬ
Navajo: Łóóʼntsxaaí łikizhígíí
Japanese: ジンベエザメ
Korean: 고래상어
Turkish: Balina köpek balığı
Hungarian: Cetcápa, érdescápa, rablócápa, érdes cetcápa, bálnacápa
Finnish: Valashai
Tamil: திமிங்கிலச் சுறா
Greek: Φαλαινοκαρχαρίας
Catalan: Tauró balena
Spanish: Tiburón ballena
French: Requin-baleine
Portuguese: Tubarão-baleia
Belarusian: Кітовая акула
Russian: Китовая акула
Polish: Rekin wielorybi
Dutch: Walvishaai
English: Whale shark
Kiswahili: Nyangumi
Trivia
Coming soon