nPostednAugust 30, 2013
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nWhat’snthe world’s largest living fish?
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nWhatnfish grows to be from 40 to 50 feet long?
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nWhatnfish has a mouth about 4 to 5 feet wide but feeds on some of thenteeniest creatures around?
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I’mnsure you’ve guessed that the answer to all these questions is thenwhale shark, a gentle, plankton-eating shark.
I’mnsure you’ve guessed that the answer to all these questions is thenwhale shark, a gentle, plankton-eating shark.n
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nWhalensharks are a kind of shark. They are NOT a kind of whale, but theirnsize is similar to the size of some whales, and their feeding habitsnare similar to those of baleen whales, who also eat tiny plankton.nAlthough whale sharks have a lot of teeth (around 3,000, in fact!),ntheir teeth are tiny and of little use. Instead of using teeth tonbite food, whale sharks use gill rakers to filter food from hugenmouthfuls of ocean water; this is similar to whales using baleen tonfilter their food.
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nWhalensharks swim in all tropical and warm-temperate oceans, so there arenmany names for them in various languages. In Latin America, they arencommonly called “domino,” because of the spots on their backs,nbut in Madagascar and Java their names translate to “many stars”nand “stars on the back.” Kenyans call the whale shark “papanshillingi,” which refers to a story of a god tossing coins callednshillings onto the creatures’ backs, giving them their spots. n
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nBecausenwhale sharks migrate every year to the shores of the Mexican statenQuintana Roo, on the Yucatan peninsula, a reserve has beennestablished there to protect these huge creatures. Several Asianncountries, including the Philippines, Taiwan, and India, have bannednkilling whale sharks, although enforcement of these lawsnis difficult.
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nDivers love to spot these peaceful creatures—so maybentourism can help motivate people to protect whale sharks. n
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nBynthe way…
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| This chart compares the size of: a human in blue, a great white shark in green, a whale shark in purple, and estimates of the size of megalodon in red and gray. |
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nInhave said that the whale shark is the world’s largest livingnfish. But megalodon, a prehistoric shark, was even larger—up to 59nfeet (18 m) long! And megalodon wasn’t a filter feeder with teenynteeth! It was a lot like a much larger version of a great whitenshark, with huge jaws and enormous teeth! Yi-ikes!
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nTake a peek at just one megalodon tooth, below. How’d you like to meet up with jaws full of these teeth?
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nAnblue whale is not a fish (it’s a mammal), but a size comparison showsnthat this largest of all living creatures is between 80 to 100 feetn(around 30 m), with the very largest measuring 110 feet (33.5 m). Didnyou know that today’s blue whale is the largest animal EVER to havenlived, that we know of? None of the dinosaurs or dinosaur-era oceanncreatures (at least, that we have fossils of) were larger.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nOceanographer Sylvia Earle’s birthday
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nNational Toasted Marshmallow Day
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nFrankenstein author Mary Shelley’s birthday
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nPlannahead:
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nHerenare my Pinterest pages on Augustnholidays, historicalnanniversaries in August,nand Augustnbirthdays.
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest pages on Septembernholidays, historicalnanniversaries in September, and Septembernbirthdays.
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