Whale Shark

Rhincodon typus

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.


Tamed

Whale sharks cannot be tamed.

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