Whale Shark - The World's Biggest Fish

The whale shark is the world's biggest fish. Here are some other details about the whale shark.

Sharks are fish who have some of the largest sizes as compared to all aquatic life. Sharks come in all sizes, ranging from twenty two centimeters, and aptly named the pygmy shark to the largest fish in the world, the whale shark.

The Whale Shark scientific name Rhincodon typus is from the family Rhincodontidae and genus Rhinocodon. It is of the class Chondrichthyes and subclass Elasmobranichii. It is believed to trace it's origins some sixty million years ago. The Whale shark is the largest living fish species.

The Whale Shark is feeds by straining food particles from water and therefore is termed as a filter feeder or a suspension feeder. They typically pass water or a specialized structure to feed. The mouth of the Whale Shark measure up to five feet. It's mouth can contain up to three hundred and fifty rows of teeth. The shark has a flat and wide head and its eyes are located towards the front of the head.

Its body is mostly gray and it has a white patch on its belly. The whale shark is characterized by the three prominent ridges that run along each side of its body. It also has a checkerboard pattern of yellow spots and stripes.The whale shark has two pairs of pectoral and dorsal fins. Its skin can be up to ten centimeters thick.
This size makes the whale shark the biggest fish in the world. However, the whale shark uses its entire body for swimming, and therefore, it is not as good a swimmer as compared to other sharks and fishes. This unusual trait gives the whale shark a unimpressive speed of about five kilometers per hour.

The Whale Shark normally inhabits the warm temperature and tropical climates. It was first identified in the year 1828, with the harpooning of a fifteen feet long member of the species in Table Bay, South Africa. The Whale Shark is the largest specimen of aquatic life ever caught.

The largest fish ever caught was caught on November 11, 1947 near the island of Baba. It was about forty two feet long and weighed more than twenty tons. It had a girth of about twenty three feet.

Though the whale shark is the largest shark ever, it is a misunderstood predator. It's massive size creates an illusion about the dangers to humankind, however, the whale shark does not pose any significant danger to uses. Whale Sharks are not man-eaters and can actually be playful and gentle with divers. The whale shark attacks humans only when provoked, and divers can actually dive alongside this great fish, with the only risk of being accidentally heat by its large tail fin.

The whale shark feeds on squids, other aquatic vertebrates, drifting aquatic organisms known as phytoplanktons, planktons, macro-algae and krill. Contrary to popular belief, their immense rows of teeth play no role in their feeding. The shark gulps in a mouthful of water and then exhales the water through its gills. The plankton is trapped in the whale shark's mouth during this procedure. The whale shark also has a sieve like apparatus, which is unique to the whale shark. This prevents the escape of anything except fluid through the gills. The whale shark can therefore trap anything up to three millimeters.
There have been many rumors about the size of the whale shark and the largest fish ever caught or seen. Some claims even say that whale sharks the size of about seventy five feet have been found. One famous rumor is about the ship Maurguni, which rammed against a whale shark, which resulted in the whale being stuck in the prow of the ship, being four to five meters on one side and about thirteen meters on the other. 

from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/whale-shark-worlds-biggest-fish.html