Whale Shark Size report
The whale shark (scientific name: Rhincodon typus) has a huge body, with a total length of up to 20 meters, and is the largest fish in the world. Whale sharks are mainly distributed in various tropical and temperate sea areas. Its biggest appearance feature is that the body surface is scattered with light-colored spots and criss-crossed light-colored bands, like a chessboard. Named for its large, whale-like size; despite its size, whale sharks are gentle.
Whale sharks are cartilaginous fish that filter water. It has almost no natural enemies and is at the top of the food chain in the marine ecosystem, but it is not carnivorous, and mainly eats a large number of plankton and small fish.
The Philippines has the highest density of whale sharks in the world. Although whale sharks are often found offshore, humans have also found them along coasts, lagoons, coral reefs, estuaries and canals. Occasionally whale sharks are seen with other small fish, especially pufferfish. Let's find out more interesting facts about these gentle beasts.
Whale Shark Size and Appearance
The whale shark is the largest in the shark family, the largest of all fish. The body is elongated and thick, with two prominent skin crests on each side. Body taupe or blue-brown, with many yellow spots and vertical stripes. Most of the body is gray with a white belly. The spots of each whale shark are unique, and biologists can use them to identify different individuals, so they can also accurately determine the number of whale sharks. Their white spotted coloration makes these gentle giants easy to distinguish.
Whale sharks have a mouth as wide as 1.5 meters, and ten filter-feeding pieces contain 300-350 rows of tiny teeth. Whale sharks have five pairs of huge gills and two small eyes on the front of their flattened heads. The pectoral fin of the whale shark can be as long as 4.8 meters, and the tail fin is as long as 2.4 meters, which is crescent-shaped. The whale shark's skin is as thick as 15 centimeters, which can effectively resist other biological attacks.
Average Size of Whale Shark
Whale sharks are huge in full-grow size, with a total length between 9-20 meters and an overall weight in the range of 15-25 tons. The typical lifespan of whale sharks is 70-130 years. They feed on plankton and travel long distances to find enough food to sustain their huge size and reproduce.
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Rhincodon typus |
| Type | Shark |
| Diet | Cartilaginous |
| Average Length | 9-20 m |
| Average Weight | 15-25 tons |
| Lifespan | 70-130 years |
Habitat and Living Habits
Whale sharks live in the middle and upper layers of warm-temperate oceans, mainly in tropical and temperate seas, and also have migratory behaviors. Although whale sharks are usually found in offshore areas, their seasonal feeding activities occasionally occur in several coastal areas, such as Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, Honduras, Sorsogon, and Batangas in the Philippines, Pemba, etc.
Whale sharks are generally solitary. They rarely come together in groups if foraging in areas with abundant food. Male whale sharks have a wider range of activities than females because female whale sharks prefer to appear in specific locations. Whale sharks swim slowly and often bask on the surface of the water. Whale sharks are active filter feeders, using their sense of smell to attack targets such as plankton or fish.
Final Words
Whale sharks are gentle beasts, they harm no human and no corals, but they try their best to bring life back to the oceans. The personality of the whale shark is quite gentle, and it will also play with divers. They can grow up to 20 meters, and each has unique identity dots on a side near their head, just like humans differentiate with fingerprints. Whale sharks have few natural predators, and human fishing is one reason for their decline. They can’t talk to us and can not tell us about what they are suffering. It’s time for humans to stop harming our oceans and other living creatures. No Ocean, No Planet!
