Species: Rhincodon typus, Whale shark
head wide
mouth short, transverse
mouth short, transverse
body: white spots
C: semilunar, base with keel
Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828
Whale shark
Robust body; snout very short and broad; eye small, round; mouth wide, transverse, a little behind tip of snout; five long gill slits, last three over pectoral fin; two dorsal fins, first over pelvics, second and smaller fin over anal; tail fin almost symmetrical, with large lower lobe; tail base flattened, with large keel that continues forward as crest along body and over gill slits, with two more crests above along body.
Dark, with prominent white spots.
Size: 12 m (old visual records to 21 m).
Habitat: pelagic in nearshore and offshore waters.
Depth: 0-240 m.
This species is distributed worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas, including throughout the eastern Pacific.
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Species Data
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- Salinity
-
- Marine Only
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- In & Offshore
- Offshore
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Surface
- Mid Water
- Water column only
- Near Surface
- Habitat
-
- Water column
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Pelagic
- Feeding Group
-
- Data
- Planktivore
- Diet
-
- Pelagic fish eggs
- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Data
- Pelagic crustacea
- Bony fishes
- Zooplankton
- Egg Type
-
- No pelagic larva
- Live birth
- No data
- Global Endemism
-
- Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans)
- TEP non-endemic
- "Transpacific" (East + Central &/or West Pacific)
- All species
- All Pacific (West + Central + East)
- East Pacific + Atlantic (East +/or West)
- Transisthmian (East Pacific + Atlantic of Central America)
- East Pacific + all Atlantic (East+West)
- Regional Endemism
-
- Island (s)
- All species
- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Eastern Pacific non-endemic
- Residency
-
- Resident
- Climate Zone
-
- Northern Tropical (Mexican Province to Nicaragua + Revillagigedos)
- South Temperate (Peruvian Province )
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Vulnerable
- Listed
- CITES
-
- Listed
- Appendix II
- Length Max
-
- 2140
- Depth Range Min
-
- 0
- Depth Range Max
-
- 240
