Whale shark
Rhincodon typus
Size, compared with you
You: 1.7 m. Whale shark: 12 m.
Giant. Grows up to about 12 m.
The whale shark is the biggest fish alive. It is gentle and slow, and it feeds by swimming along with its huge mouth open, filtering tiny animals out of the water.
The weird bit
Every whale shark has its own pattern of pale spots and stripes, like a fingerprint. Scientists use the patterns to tell individuals apart.
Quick facts
- Where it lives
- Open ocean, Coast and shallowsDown to 1,928 m
- What it eats
- Plankton, krill, fish eggs and small schooling fish, filtered from the water
- How worried are we?
- In danger (Endangered)Assessed in 2016 by the IUCN Red List.