Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)

SharkFilter FeederLargest Fish

Overview

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest living fish — a shark, not a whale, despite the name and the whale-like feeding. It has a broad flattened head, a mouth set at the very front rather than underneath, and a dark back covered in a chequerboard of pale spots and stripes.

Whale sharks are filter feeders. Instead of hunting, they swim with the mouth open or actively suck in water, straining out plankton and small animals through filtering pads. They pose no danger to people.

Each whale shark's spot pattern is unique and stable, which allows researchers to identify individuals photographically — an approach that has produced large collaborative catalogues built partly from tourist photographs.

Habitat & Range

Whale sharks live in warm tropical and warm-temperate seas worldwide, both in the open ocean and at coastal aggregation sites. They are highly migratory and can cross ocean basins. Predictable seasonal gatherings occur where plankton or spawning events concentrate food — locations such as Ningaloo in Western Australia, the Yucatán, the Philippines and the Gulf of Tadjoura are well known for them.

Diet

Whale sharks eat plankton, small crustaceans, fish eggs, small schooling fish and squid. They feed both passively, cruising forward with the mouth open, and actively, using suction to draw in dense patches of food, sometimes hanging vertically in the water at a spawning site.

Behavior

Whale sharks are generally slow-swimming and solitary, but gather in large numbers where feeding is good. They dive to considerable depths between surface feeding bouts. Much of their life history — particularly where they give birth and where the young spend their early years — remains poorly known, which is one reason the species is difficult to manage.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Whale sharks support substantial wildlife-tourism industries, which bring both conservation funding and disturbance risks; many sites operate codes of conduct on approach distance and touching. They are threatened by targeted and incidental fishing, vessel strikes and habitat degradation, and their slow growth and late maturity make recovery slow. This profile gives no guidance on approaching or handling whale sharks — follow local regulations and operator rules. Verify current status at the IUCN Red List.