Whale Shark

Image ID: anim0878, NOAA's Ark (Animals) Collection
Location: Eastern Tropical Pacific
Photo Date: 1998 Fall

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.

Photo Source:
The NOAA Photo Library http://www.photolib.noaa.gov
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Adminstration (NOAA) http://www.noaa.gov/