How much does the average whale shark eat on a daily basis?”
The whale shark is the largest living shark and biggest fish in our oceans. Whale sharks are found in warm, tropical waters where the water temp is often around 27oc and the northern penninsula of the yucatan, mexico, brings the sharks on a yearly basis from the months of june through to september for a plankton feeding fest. The waters 45mins north of cancun are so rich in plantkton whale sharks, manta rays and dolphins come in their numbers, in the summer months this is one of the best places in the world to view and snorkel with the gentle giants along with western austrailia, galapagos islands and the maldives in the indian ocean. The whale shark is a filter feeder. It swims with its mouth open ‘sucking’ in the food as it swims on the surface or just below making snorkeling the ideal activity to watch these animals in their true beauty. The sharks can reach lengths of upto 35ft and weigh as much as 12 tons, they have a pattern of lines and spots on the skin that enables the sharks
Whale shark The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a gentle and slow filter feeding shark that is the largest living fish species. This distinctively-marked shark is the only member of its genus Rhincodon and its family, Rhincodontidae (called Rhinodontes before 1984), which is grouped into the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. The shark is found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea. The species is believed to have originated about 60 million years ago.Jurassic Shark (2000) documentary by Jacinth O’Donnell; broadcast on Discovery Channel, August 5, 2006 Diet The whale shark is a filter feeder – one of only three known filter feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on phytoplankton, macro-algae, plankton, krill and small nektonic life, such as small squid or vertebrates. The many rows of teeth play no role in feeding – instead the shark sucks in a mouthful of water, closes its mouth and expels the water thr
