Rhincodon typus, Whale shark : fisheries

Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828

Whale shark
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Image of Rhincodon typus (Whale shark)
Rhincodon typus
Foto de Wirtz, P.

Clasificación / Nombres Nombres comunes | Sinónimos | Catalog of Fishes(Género, Especie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranquios (tiburones y rayas) (sharks and rays) > Orectolobiformes (Carpet sharks) > Rhincodontidae (Whale shark)
Etymology: Rhincodon: rhinc, presumably a typographical error for rhine (Gr.), rasp, but often mistranslated as rhynchos (Gr.), snout; odon, tooth, referring to small, slightly curved teeth, “placed in longitudinal rows, and altogether so disposed towards the anterior edges of jaws as to exhibit the resemblance of a rasp or file lying across each” (See ETYFish); typus: Serving as type species of the genus (See ETYFish).
Eponymy: Camrin D Braun is an American ichthyologist. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

Entorno: milieu / zona climática / rango de profundidad / gama de distribución Ecología

marino pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromo (Ref. 87829); rango de profundidad 0 - 1928 m (Ref. 106604), usually 0 - 100 m (Ref. 89972). Subtropical; 18°C - 30°C (Ref. 35465); 45°N - 48°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribución Territorios | Áreas FAO | Ecosistemas | Ocurrencias, apariciones | Mapa de puntos | Introducciones | Faunafri

Circumglobal, all tropical and warm temperate seas except the Mediterranean.

Longitud en la primera madurez / Tamaño / Peso / Edad

Madurez: Lm 500.0, range 440 - 560 cm
Max length : 1,700 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 48722); 2,000.0 cm TL (female); common length : 1,000 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 12757); peso máximo publicado: 34.0 t (Ref. 48722); edad máxima reportada: 80 años (Ref. 116781)

Descripción breve Claves de identificación | Morfología | Morfometría

Espinas dorsales (total) : 0; Espinas anales: 0. A huge, filter-feeding, blunt-headed shark with a distinct checkerboard pattern of yellow or white spots, on grey, bluish or blue-grey to green-brown back, white or yellowish underside, with horizontal and vertical stripes on back and sides of body; head broad and flat; snout short; mouth almost terminal, huge and transverse in front of eyes; prominent ridges on body, lowest terminating in a keel on caudal peduncle (Ref. 58085, 114967); nostrils with rudimentary barbels; long nasoral grooves; spiracles close to and larger than eyes; 5 exceptionally large gill openings, the fifth behind pectoral fin (Ref. 110893, 114967); numerous small, scale-like teeth and feeds by filtering plankton with special sieve-like modifications of the gill bars (Ref. 26938).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated; Cross section: other (see remarks).

Biología     Glosario (por ej. epibenthic)

World's largest fish, but is harmless to humans (Ref. 6871). Grows up to 20m (Ref. 48722). Often seen offshore but coming close inshore, sometimes entering lagoons or coral atolls (Ref. 247). Sometimes seen cruising near outer wall (Ref. 26938). Reported to frequent shallow water areas near estuaries and river mouths, sometimes during seasonal shrimp blooms (Ref. 48696). Found singly, or in aggregations of over 100 individuals (Ref. 5578). Often associated with groups of pelagic fishes, especially scombrids (Ref. 247). Highly migratory between ocean basins and national jurisdictions, but returns to the same sites annually (Refs. 48672, 131113). Feed on planktonic and nektonic prey, such as small fishes (sardines, anchovies, mackerel, juvenile tunas and albacore), small crustaceans and squids (Ref. 247). Often seen in a vertical position with the head at or near the surface when feeding (Ref. 13571). When actively feeding on zooplankton the sharks turn their heads from side to side, with part of the head lifted out of the water, and the mouth opened and closed 7-28 times per minute; these suction gulps were synchronized with the opening and closing of the gill slits (Ref. 35680). Ovoviviparous, with litter size of over 300 pups (Ref. 37816, 43278). Females of 438 to 562 cm are immature (FIGIS 09/2003). Utilized fresh, frozen, dried and salted for human consumption, liver processed for oil, fins used for shark-fin soup, offal probably for fishmeal (Ref. 13571), cartilage for health supplements and skin for leather products (Ref. 48723). Used in Chinese medicine (Ref. 12166). Highly valued commodity in ecotourism operations. Populations have been depleted in several countries by harpoon fisheries (Ref. 48696). Estimated longevity of 80.4 yrs is much larger than reported maximum age 38 yrs based on vertebral bands for a female of 11.9 m TL. Maximum length of up to 21 m and weight of up to 42 tons have been reported (Ref. 116781), but probably the most reliably measured size so far is 12 m TL (Ref. 26319).

Ciclo vital y comportamiento de apareamiento Madurez | Reproducción | Puesta | Huevos | Fecundidad | Larva

Distinct pairing with embrace (Ref. 205). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 35465). Embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449). Late term embryos shed their egg case within the uterus at a size of 58 to 64 cm TL (ovovivipary). The smallest free-living species are from 55-56 cm long, the smallest of which had an umbilical scar. A pregnant female has recently been found with 300 embryos, the largest of which were 58-64 cm (Refs. 26346, 35678).

Referencia principal Suba sus referencias | Referencias | Coordinador : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Colaboradores

Colman, J.G., 1997. A review of the biology and ecology of the whale shark. J. Fish Biol. 51(6):1219-1234. (Ref. 26319)

Situación en la Lista Roja de la UICN (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Endangered (EN) (A2bd); Date assessed: 31 March 2025

CITES

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Appendix I & II: Endangered migratory species conserved through agreements

Amenaza para el ser humano

  Harmless (Ref. 6871)





Usos humanos

Pesquerías: comercial
FAO - pesquerías: perfil de la especie; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Más información

Ecología Trófica
Alimentos (presas)
Composición de la dieta
consumo de alimento
Raciones de comida
Despredadores
Ecología
Ecología
Dinámica de la población
Coeficiente del crecimiento para
Edades / tallas máximas
Longitud-peso rel.
Longitud-longitud rel.
Longitud-frecuencias
Conversión de masas
Reclutamiento
Abundancia
Ciclo de vida
Reproducción
Madurez
Madurez/Gills rel.
Fecundidad
Puesta
Agregaciones de desove
Huevos
Desarrollo de los huevos
Larva
Dinámica larvaria
Distribución
Territorios
Áreas FAO
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Ocurrencias, apariciones
Introducciones
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Fisiología
Composición corporal
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Pigmentos visuales
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heritabilidad
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Relacionados con el ser humano
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Perfiles de acuicultura
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Nombres comunes
Sinónimos
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Referencias

Herramientas

Cuestionario orgánico | Libro electrónico | Guía de campo | Claves de identificación | Asistente para frecuencias de tallas | Herramienta de ciclo de vida | Mapa de puntos | Catch-MSY |

Informes especiales

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Fuentes de Internet

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: Género, Especie | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - pesquerías: perfil de la especie; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | Bases de datos nacionales | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Árbol de la vida | Wikipedia: Go, búsqueda | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Expediente Zoológico

Estimaciones basadas en modelos

Índice de diversidad filogenética
(Referencia 82804) 		PD50 = 1.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Nivel trófico
(Referencia 69278) 		3.6   ±0.5 se; based on diet studies.
Resiliencia
(Referencia 120179) 		Muy bajo, población duplicada en un tiempo mínimo superior a 14 años (K=0.02; Fec=16-300).
Vulnerabilidad pesquera
(Ref. 59153) 		Very high vulnerability (87 of 100). 🛈
Categoría de precios
(Ref. 80766) 		Unknown.