Whale Shark

Price range: 1,00 € through 100,00 €

Donation to support Whale Shark conservation.

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SKU: N/A Categories: Oceanic, Species - Endangered

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Fun Facts

Information

Species Name (Scientific): Rhincodon typus

IUCN Category: Endangered

Habitat Type: Marine Neritic | Marine Oceanic

The Whale Shark is not a whale, but is the largest known fish species, growing to over 18m (60ft) long.

As filter feeders, Whale Sharks play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems by consuming large amounts of plankton and small fish, which helps regulate the populations of these organisms. Their presence also attracts ecotourism, which can benefit coastal economies.

Primary threats: Humans – overfishing of reef and open water feeding grounds, targeted killing of whale sharks for their fins, meat, and oil, accidental by-catch fishery deaths, killed by ship propellers, food source impacted by fishing, habitat destruction, coastal development, climate change, plastics, and other pollution, like noise.

Additional information

Fun Facts

~ They grow up to 40 feet (12 m) long, but on average they grow to 18 to 32.8 feet (5.5 to 10 m) and weigh 20.6 tons. That’s about the size of a school bus.

~ They are filter feeders and can’t bite or chew. They process more than 6,000 litres (1,600 gallons) of water an hour through their gills.
~ Their mouths can stretch to 4 feet (1.2m) wide. They have around 3,000 tiny teeth, about 6mm long.

~ They can dive to well over a mile in depth, and as filter feeders they travel huge distances (10,000km or more) migrating to different feeding grounds, but they swim at speeds of little more than 3 mph.

~ Much of their lives are still shrouded in mystery.

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