Whale shark

whale shark

The largest extant fish is a whale shark (Rhincodon typus), a massive but harmless member of the family Rhincodontidae. Although they can be found in marine habitats all over the world, whale sharks prefer tropical oceans. They belong here to the order Orectolobiformes, a family that includes the carpet sharks, and are the sole members of the genus Rhincodon.

Features in general Distribution

whale shark

All around the world, whale sharks can be found in warm waters. It can be found in the western Atlantic Ocean, encompassing the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, from the coast of New York in the United States to central Brazil. From the shores of Senegal, Mauritania, and Cape Verde to the Gulf of Guinea, they can be found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The Western and Central Pacific Oceans, as well as the Indian Ocean, are home to whale sharks. It emerged near Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, and Hawaii, as well as in the Red Sea and off the coast of South Africa. It can be found from southern California in the United States to the eastern Pacific.

body composition

The whale shark is gigantic and is said to be capable of growing up to 18 meters in length (59 feet). The majority of specimens that have been analyzed, however, averaged about 12 meters (39 feet) in length and weighed about 15 tons (about 14 metric tons). The body's coloring is recognizable. On a dark background, light vertical and horizontal stripes create a checkerboard pattern, while light dots identify the fins and dark regions of the body.

The nose is somewhat severed, and the mouth is enormous. The skull is big and flat. The keel is a term used to describe the conspicuous borders of hard tissue that run horizontally along each side of the body until the tail. Just above the pectoral fins, there are five sizable gill slits on either side of the head region. The unique filter employed by sharks for feeding is made up of the unusual spongy tissues found within the gill slits and supported by the shark's gill arches. A barbel, a small, non-developed sensory organ, hangs from each nostril. A large anterior dorsal (upper) fin and smaller dorsal and anal fins are present on the shark.

Behavior Eating patterns

whale shark

The megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) and the basking shark are the other two enormous filter-feeding sharks (Cetorhinus maximus). The whale shark hunts for prey at or near the ocean's surface. With more than 300 rows of tiny, sharp teeth in each jaw, its huge mouth is ideally equipped to filter food. These teeth are not used for feeding, according to ichthyologists, who view them as vestigial structures. Seawater enters the shark's mouth cavity as it swims and filters via the gill slits.

Internal gill slits' mesh-like tissue functions as a sieve, capturing plankton and other tiny organisms while letting water pass through and return to the sea. The shark will occasionally seal its lips in order to devour the caught prey. The whale shark will occasionally feed with its tail down and its mouth open, facing up toward the surface. As it bobs up and down, food and water can enter its mouth. The prey caught includes both phytoplankton and zooplankton, which are microscopic creatures like copepods, shrimp, and other invertebrates (such as algae and other marine plant material). The whale shark also consumes a variety of other fish and mollusks, including small tuna and albacore, as well as sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and squid.

lifespan and procreation

Even though whale sharks are mostly solitary animals, they can occasionally be spotted in groups of up to hundreds of people. Although they occasionally approach the beach, these animals are mostly found in the open sea. Scientists assume that whale sharks give birth to fully developed live pups, despite the fact that little is known about their reproductive cycle. The smallest free-living whale shark ever measured was 55 cm (1.8 feet) long, which is probably about the length of an infant whale shark. Each litter averages 16 babies, while larger litters are possible. In the 1990s, a female was captured close to Taiwan with a uterus containing around 300 babies.

According to scientists, the lifespan of a whale shark is thought to be between 60 and 100 years.

Relationships with people

Humans are not in danger from whale sharks. Divers have approached, studied, and even mounted numerous individual whale sharks without encountering any hostile behavior. They might approach and inspect humans in the water out of curiosity. Sportfishing boats have occasionally been bumped by whale sharks, but this is most likely a response to the bait that the fishermen above are dangling. When swimming at the surface or close to it, these sharks are occasionally hit by boats.