Whale Sharks: The Gentle Giants of the Ocean

The largest fish in the sea, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), are, for the most part, carnivores that are about the size of a school bus. While massive, these gentle giants primarily eat plankton, small fish, fish eggs, and small crustaceans. Keep reading to learn more about everything a whale shark eats!

Whale Sharks: An Overview

Despite having thousands of teeth, they don’t use them when they eat. They have so many teeth that they even have teeth on their eyes! Known as dermal denticles, these eye teeth protect the shark’s eyes. Whale sharks are cartilaginous, meaning their skeletons consist of cartilage instead of bones. They are also known to have an unusually long lifespan. Whale sharks have been known to live a staggering 100 to 130 years, though their average lifespan is closer to 70 years. Whale sharks are very slow swimmers, averaging about three miles per hour.

What Whale Sharks Eat

Whale sharks are filter feeders that consume large quantities of food. Swimming around with their huge mouths open, they filter food from the water. While whale sharks are massive creatures, they feed on tiny plants, fish, fish eggs, and other small animals that are around when they open their huge mouths! However, a whale shark’s favorite food is plankton, and whale sharks will migrate to areas with plentiful plankton. Plankton can be plant-based or animal-based. Phytoplankton are tiny plants, while zooplankton are small animals, including the larvae of larger animals.

Swimming around with their huge mouths open, they filter food from the water.

How Much Whale Sharks Eat

Whale sharks are massive creatures. Therefore, they need to eat a lot of food to fill them up. However, their large size can also help them store energy better and travel long distances more easily than other fish. Whale sharks migrate to areas of the sea where plankton blooms. It’s thought that their huge size helps them throughout this migration. Whale sharks may struggle en route to a feeding ground, and their size helps them reach their destination and feast on plankton when they get there. The average whale shark requires approximately 45 pounds of plankton per day.

A Whale Shark’s Feeding Habits

Whale sharks eat a lot, even though they cannot bite or chew their food. While they have about 300 rows of teeth — and about 3,000 tiny teeth in total — whale sharks do not use them for eating.

Are Whale Sharks Dangerous to Humans?

Whale sharks are often called gentle giants and do not eat larger animals or humans. Adventurous people have been known to swim with whale sharks, with no problem at all! Whale sharks are more likely to ignore humans than eat them.