Whale shark

Rhincodon typus (Smith, 1829)
Rhincodon typicus Jordan et Fowler, 1903
Family : Rhincodontidae shark
Ministry : Lamniformes shark shark

Whale Shark very large body, can be up to 20 m long, weighs 14 tons. The side of the body has 2 slit edges running from the gill to the tail. The skin is gray or pinkish gray, has many veins and many stains are cloudy. Very small teeth grow into a wide tooth belt on two jaws. Gill rakers long and very thick pieces.

Biological:

Fish food is floating animals and small fish are sent back during the process of filtering water from the mouth through the gills. Inseminate fish but lay eggs. Fish samples caught in May have a length of 6, 85 m with ovaries weighing 0, 50 kg, about 4200 young eggs, diameter 1, 4 - 6, 5 mm. A Mexican glorious egg was collected at a depth of 56 m, 130 nautical miles from shore, eggs 670 mm long, 400 mm in diameter with a fetus lying inside the encased horn envelope (Rass, 1971).

Habitat and ecology:

Whale sharks are oceanic fish, often in flocks, slow swimming, sometimes walking in areas near the shore to feed or being washed up by the waves on the beach.

(Photo: Enature.com)

Distribution:

Vietnam: Hai Phong (Do Son, Nam Ha (Van Ly), Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Vung Tau.

World: Indian Ocean, and Pacific and Atlantic tropical regions. The region is distributed north to latitude 420 (near Niu Yooc, south to latitude 33055 (South Africa)).

Use value:

Whale shark is the largest of the living fish, also the only species in them: Rhincodontidae. Because fish are big, gentle and slow, they are the target of hunting for marine fisheries.

Status:

Only about 100 animals have been studied in the world. In the Vietnamese sea, there have been a few times, there have not been many research data, it is possible to put whale shark into rare genetic resources that need to be protected. Threat level: Level R.