Whale Shark facts: not actually a whale | Animal Fact Files

Whale sharks are the largest living fish in our ocean. While the ocean sunfish might take the spot as the largest living *bony* fish, whale sharks have skeletons made of cartilage! Whale sharks may also be called checkerboard sharks in reference to their unique spots. These fish are considered gentle giants and may also be surrounded by thousands of smaller fish. Don't be fooled, though, if whale sharks get too hungry, they will happily eat these fish using the whale sharks for protection. Unfortunately, whale sharks are endangered and their slow moving nature makes them vulnerable to anthropogenic threats including hunting and boat collisions.

Scientific Name: Rhincodon typus
Range: tropical and temperate water worldwide
Size: 40+ feet (12+m); 50,000lbs (22,680kg)
Diet: plankton, crustaceans, cephalopods, small fish
Lifespan: unknown

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[beautyforashes]

0:20 The Whale Shark, when you look at it feeding and swimming towards you head on, kinda reminds me of like a giant, dust buster. Or rather, a beautiful, giant, aquatic dust buster.

[TheBluePhoenix]

I was spacing out in my notification bar when this popped in my face. Nice.

[ShelbyOnSafari]

My friends and I were just discussing if we could turn into sharks which species we would want to be and I chose a whale shark! I love how they can have so many buddies hanging out with them! They are just so cool looking, and amazing that they are unique to each individual. However holding around 300 babies at one time.... maybe not... Thanks for another great video guys! 💚

[TheBluePhoenix]

Have you done videos on prehistoric creatures?

[dominicfeliciano]

Dory’s back with a slew of new and old friends in the hit sequel “Finding Dory”. One of the most memorable characters in the movie, a young whale shark named Destiny, won over the hearts with her quirky clumsiness. Destiny’s clumsy charm seems to be attributed to poor eyesight. She gets quite frustrated with her near-sightedness, especially when she keeps running into the walls in her enclosure! This makes us wonder, do all whale sharks have poor eyesight, or was Destiny an oddball in a sea of sharp-sighted whale sharks? Shark eyes contain a special tissue, tapetum, lucidum which allows for more enhanced underwater vision. Since sharks live in the water, this does make a lot of sense. This special tissue, comprised of mirrored crystals, enables the shark to contract and dilate its pupils similar to how people can. However, instead of the light being absorbed, it is reflected back to the retina, allowing for far superior vision in darker conditions out in the deep ocean. Sharks also have the ability to change their vision from stereoscopic, or 3D vision like ours, to monocular vision. Monocular vision uses just one eye and limits depth perception, but increases the quality of the image. Sharks can change their vision back and forth at will and since their eyes are on either side of their head (in most species), they can almost get a 360-degree field of vision. So where do whale sharks fit into all of this? Although whale sharks are the largest fish in the ocean, they actually have really small eyes. Their eyes are tiny and circular, and are positioned laterally on the shark’s blunt head. This suggests that they have a wide field of vision. Unlike some other shark species, whale sharks lack eyelids. However, their eyes rotate, close, and can be drawn back into the head for defense. Whale sharks have increased sensitivity to low-light environments, which makes sense seeing that they spend much of their time in the deep abyss. Whale sharks have been observed picking out swimmers and following them at fairly close distances of three to five meters. They have also been documented to single out objects and movement at close range. All of these findings seem to support Destiny’s claim of being near-sighted. So, maybe she isn’t so odd at all. Instead, she is as normal as a whale shark as they come. Maybe once she reaches deeper waters, she will see more clearly! Seems like Disney was onto this the whole time. Guess we will just have to wait for another underwater sequel to find out more!

[FACELESS_VOID_]

This channel is definitely underrated.

[jacobcamacho]

Does the whale shark's pattern have anything to do with camouflage

[DIYNOW]

Thank you very much for sharing this interesting fact file 👍✔ Warm greetings and best wishes from Hong Kong 🌷💕

[jackieloufelipe]

Whale Sharks Breath While, moving DUH In the GILLS

[yahyaalthuhli]

Thanks for your information, I really enjoy freedive with them and having great pictures and videos, really it’s amazing giant creatures

[Col]

3:48 How would I feel? I think it would be really cool!
Thanks for the video on these big guys.

[marvalice]

one on mega mouths would actually be really cool! I don't know much about them...

[bugjams]

Could their teeth simply be vestigial? If they’re sharks, they probably had a common ancestor that had sharp teeth, right?

[Michael-yjnw]

I'm on vacation at the red sea I've seen a Whale Shark, it was amazing. And thank you for the video!

[jadenl]

Awesome video!😃 These fishes are truly huge!😲

[Penguin_of_Death]

Of course a whale shark isn't a whale...the clue is in the word 'shark', in much the same way as a bull shark isn't a bull, a tiger shark isn't a tiger, and a nurse shark isn't a nurse...

[indyreno]

The Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) has 3, 000 teeth, which are very small, it is the largest extant fish in the world, while it is large, its size is never enough to protect them from predators, the only two known successful predators of the whale shark are the Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and the Orca (Orcinus orca).

[tegamingother]

since animals adapt to different climates and environments certain features like teeth become almost useless. its just there from previous versions of the evolving animal and its not really suppose to have a purpose if the animal sees no use for it.

[OmegaDarkMage]

Does any ocean predator actually mess with these giants? They aren't aggressive but if provoked do they fight back?

[georgeo]

You should make a video on cave salamanders