Whale Shark is the largest fish in the world

It's no secret that the great whale shark in the ranking of the largest marine inhabitants occupies an honorable first place. Indeed, the largest fish in the world is worthy to be in the first positions of such a rating, because it can reach enormous sizes. On average, representatives of this species are about twelve meters long, and their weight reaches a mark of fifteen tons. Truly, the largest fish in the world is among the individuals of whale sharks and weighs about 36 tons with a body length of more than 20 meters.

Truly, due to its appearance, the whale shark is like a monster. Its flat muzzle with little eyes placed on it, the huge mouth, in which there are several rows of very sharp, small teeth, is capable of awe and horror. At the same time, the largest fish in the world, if we consider it completely, has short setae that look like antennae, and the dark gray color of the skin sometimes acquires additional pigment spots, which makes it quite beautiful. The combination of light spots with yellowish abstract strips on a brown-gray background attracts the eye and makes us admire the abilities of nature to create the beautiful.

Quite a long time, whale sharks existed only in the stories of different seafarers, who traveled mainly through the tropical sea spaces. But since the beginning of the XIX century, not far from the coast of South Africa, oddly enough in cold waters, fishermen for the first time managed to catch a huge fish, which turned out to be a whale shark. Since then, to study the lives of these marine representatives and observe their behavior, scientists have tried to deliver sharks to research institutions. However, they managed to do it infrequently, only about a hundred times, because of the huge size of transportation was much more difficult.

The largest fish in the world is most often found in the warm waters of the tropical or subtropical zone of the Earth. Nevertheless, there are cases when the whale shark was seen in the cold waters of the northern seas, as well as in the western waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In winter, the vital activity of these sea giants is greatly reduced, they in most cases fall into a hibernation. Since this occurs usually in surface waters, often different ships collide with them. In the period of hibernation, the largest fish in the world feeds on its own fat deposits.

However strange it may be, the whale shark consumes only plankton. She swims on the water expanses with an open mouth, at the same time sucking in everything that comes to her along with the water. It can be small fish, and tiny crustaceans, and algae with food leftovers from ships. Everything that gets into the mouth of a shark is filtered through the interlocked rows of small teeth, and water passes through the gills located near the eyes. Stamens that are in the structure of the gills retain any particles suitable for eating.

The biggest fish on Earth is pretty peaceful. It almost never attacks large dwellers of the sea, as well as divers. A whale shark can allow a person to approach himself for a short distance. Using this, experienced and brave scuba divers swim to it in order to shoot on a video camera or capture in a photo. Some, even the bravest, even managed to take off on this fish. The danger is not the jaws of this huge sea beauty, but the collision with it. Not everyone is able to withstand the powerful blows of her tail or body.

Hunting for a whale shark in many countries is prohibited in connection with the extinction of it as a species. Nevertheless, to a huge regret, there are places on which such taboos do not apply. For this reason, large whale sharks are still on the verge of extinction.