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Whale Shark

Rhincodon typus

Description:

Photo taken open sea near Isla Mujeres Mexico. back to water after 6 months an epic day. a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 mt and a weight of more than 21.5 tonnes , and there are unconfirmed reports of considerably larger whale sharks. Claims of individuals over 14 mt long and weighing at least 30 tonnes are not uncommon.

Habitat:

The whale shark is found in tropical and warm oceans and lives in the open sea with a lifespan of about 70 years. Although whale sharks have very large mouths, as filter feeders they feed mainly, though not exclusively, on plankton, which are microscopic plants and animals.

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13 Comments

rams4d
rams4d 10 years ago

Impressive !!!

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 10 years ago

Thanks Tom :)

Tom15
Tom15 10 years ago

What a great encounter Gerardo! Glad to see you're back in the water:-)

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 10 years ago

Thanks Lisa !

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 10 years ago

Thanks so much Leanne indeed is very special to me :)
Thanks Mona :)

Mona Pirih
Mona Pirih 10 years ago

wow...

LeanneGardner
LeanneGardner 10 years ago

What an experience! Congratulations Gerardo. This is the most wonderful spotting :)

LisaPowers
LisaPowers 10 years ago

Magnificent creature and spotting!

Gerardo Aizpuru
Gerardo Aizpuru 10 years ago

Thanks so much guys, feels good to get back home :)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

So close! You lucky man.

Sergio Monteiro
Sergio Monteiro 10 years ago

Looks like you are having tons of fun, Gerardo. I am glad to know you are ok and back to the sea. C heers my friend.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

Gentle Giants!

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

So jealous of this! I would love to swim with these guys :)

Gerardo Aizpuru
Spotted by
Gerardo Aizpuru

Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Spotted on Jun 22, 2013
Submitted on Jun 22, 2013

Related Spottings

whaleshark Whale Shark Whale Shark Whale Shark

Nearby Spottings

Tiburón ballena, Whale shark Whale Shark Giant Oceanic Manta Ray Chiton.

Reference

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