Whale Shark
· Whale Shark Habitat
· Whale Shark Food
· Whale Shark Behaviour
· Conservation Status
· Whale Shark Pictures
· Whale Shark facts

Whale Shark

Whale shark classification

Despite its common name, the Whale shark is not a whale, it is not related to whales and it is certainly not any form of whale-shark mix. Whales are marine mammals, while sharks are fishes. The name Whale shark is derived from the large size of this shark - a shark as big as a whale. The Whale shark is the biggest shark species in the world. The scientific name of the Whale shark is Rhincodon typus and it belongs to the genus Rhincodon in the family Rhincodontidae. It is the only member of its genus

Whale shark distribution

Whale sharks are found in tropical and warm temperate waters all over the world, except for the Mediterranean Sea. It is not too uncommon for divers to encounter Whale sharks off the coast of Thailand, the Maldives, the Philippines and Western Australia. Around Central and South America, you can see Whale sharks at popular dive destinations like Belize, Honduras, the Galapagos Islands, Puerto Rico and Baja California in Mexico. Whale sharks inhabit the Red Sea, and along the African coast you can spot them near the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar in Tanzania and around the Republic of Seychelles. These are just a few examples of coastal regions where humans often encounter Whale sharks.

Whale shark size

The official world record Whale shark was 39 feet (12 meters) long. Several Whale sharks have been encountered that were considerably longer, up to 59 feet (18 metres), but they have not been scientifically measured. Female Whale sharks are usually significantly longer than their male counterparts. 

Whale shark head

The Whale shark is a filter feeder and has developed a very large mouth that can reach a width of 5 feet (1.5 meters). The mouth of a Whale shark can be equipped with up to 300 rows of really small teeth. In order to filter vast amounts of water, the Whale shark features five large pairs of gills. The head is wide and flat and the eyes are small and situated towards the front. Unlike most other shark species, the Whale shark has its mouth located at the front of the head. (Most shark species have the mouth located on the underside of the head.)  

Whale sharks coloration

The main body colour is grey, while the belly is white. The grey main colour is decorated with pale yellow dots and lines that create a checkerboard-like pattern over the shark. Each Whale shark features its own, unique checkerboard pattern and these dots and lines can therefore be used to distinguish the Whale sharks from each other.

Whale shark feeding

The Whale shark is a filter feeder that eats plankton, phytoplankton, krill, macro-algae and small nektonic creatures, including small vertebrates and squids. According to Caribbean seafarers, Whale sharks sometimes substitute their diet with giant Cubera snappers. A Whale shark can have over 300 teeth in its mouth, but it seems as though these teeth play a minor role during filter feeding. Water is instead filtered by the Whale shark’s gill rakers and discarded via the gill arches. Food that becomes trapped by the gill rakers is then promptly swallowed by the Whale shark.