Photo: Jerome Paillet (IFREMER, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, Centre Bretagne - ZI de la Pointe du Diable - CS 10070 - 29280 Plouzané) · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Description
- 📏 up to 12 m
- 🌊 open water, rarely near passes
- 🛡️ Endangered (IUCN)
The whale shark is the largest fish in the world. Its grey back is covered in white spots, unique to each individual like a fingerprint. It feeds only on plankton and small fish that it filters, and poses no danger. Encounters in Polynesia are rare.
Did you know?
Its Tahitian name, ma'o tohora, literally means « whale shark » (ma'o = shark, tohora = whale).
Source: TAXREF vernacular database
Tahitian names: TAXREF (INPN/MNHN) – Society Islands. French name: Requin-baleine.
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