Animal Facts - Whale Shark

Gentle giants, whale sharks filter-feed, swimming with their wide mouths open, collecting plankton and small fish.

Photograph by Brian J. Skerry

Map

Whale Shark Range

Fast Facts

Type:

Fish

Diet:

Carnivore

Size:

18 to 32.8 ft (5.5 to 10 m)

Weight:

Average, 20.6 tons (18.7 tonnes)

Group name:

School

Protection status:

Threatened

Did you know?

The largest whale shark ever measured was 40 feet (12.2 meters) long; however, the species is thought to grow even bigger.

Size relative to a bus:

As the largest fish in the sea, reaching lengths of 40 feet (12 meters) or more, whale sharks have an enormous menu from which to choose. Fortunately for most sea-dwellers—and us!—their favorite meal is plankton. They scoop these tiny plants and animals up, along with any small fish that happen to be around, with their colossal gaping mouths while swimming close to the water's surface.

The whale shark, like the world's second largest fish, the basking shark, is a filter feeder. In order to eat, the beast juts out its formidably sized jaws and passively filters everything in its path.  The mechanism is theorized to be a technique called “cross-flow filtration,” similar to some bony fish and baleen whales.

The whale shark's flattened head sports a blunt snout above its mouth with short barbels protruding from its nostrils. Its back and sides are gray to brown with white spots among pale vertical and horizontal stripes, and its belly is white. Its two dorsal fins are set rearward on its body, which ends in a large dual-lobbed caudal fin (or tail).

Preferring warm waters, whale sharks populate all tropical seas. They are known to migrate every spring to the continental shelf of the central west coast of Australia. The coral spawning of the area's Ningaloo Reef provides the whale shark with an abundant supply of plankton.

Although massive, whale sharks are docile fish and sometimes allow swimmers to hitch a ride. They are currently listed as a vulnerable species; however, they continue to be hunted in parts of Asia, such as the Philippines.

*All content (photos and facts) that has been detailed in the above post, is the property of National Geographic. Native English Spain takes no credit for this work and has used the content for purely educational purposes.

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