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Whale Shark - Species Spotlight
"Open wide" takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to the whale shark. The mouth of this massive fish—lined with 310 rows of tiny teeth—can gape up to five feet wide. Not to worry, though—this shark isn’t looking to eat people. It’s one of just three species of sharks that filter feeds.
To eat, the shark sucks in a mouthful of water and then clamps its jaws shut, expelling the water through its gills and trapping tiny plankton and krill, which get swallowed.
You might think a creature that can grow as big as 60 feet long and weigh 40 tons would be easy to spot. But between its discovery in 1828 and the mid-1980s, only about 350 whale shark sightings were recorded. Even today, as interest in the species grows, data are still too scant for scientists to speculate on the total number of whale sharks. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature does, however, consider the species vulnerable to extinction.
Thought to be a long-distance solo traveler, the whale shark is found in all tropical and warm temperate seas except the Mediterranean. It congregates in large numbers in spring off the central-west coast of Australia.
Streamlined with dappled skin—perhaps an adaptation that protects it from ultraviolet rays while it feeds at the surface—a whale shark may live as long as 150 years.
Although many questions still surround this gentle giant, one thing is certain: It's one whale of a shark.
