A whale shark is a shark, it is not a whale despite having the word “whale” in its name.
In fact the whale shark is the largest fish (or shark for that matter) in the world.
The largest known whale shark measured in at just over 40 ft. (hence the name whale shark), although some individuals believe that these sharks can grow much larger.
The whale shark received its name due to its large size as some whale sharks are as large as several of the whale species.
They also happen to be filter feeders just like the baleen whale species, however their filter feeding method is a bit different than a whales.
This shark has a flat head and a wide mouth which can reach nearly 5 ft. in length!
Surprisingly despite its large size it survives on a diet of plankton, krill, shrimp, larvae, algae and other small aquatic life forms, which is very different from other shark species that have large teeth and hunt large fish and/or marine mammals.
Also unlike other sharks which attack, bite and chew their prey the whale shark consumes its food simply by swimming towards it with its mouth open and sucks up any small prey that it comes into contact with, similar to how a vacuum works.
Again this is very different from species such as the great white shark which grabs its prey using its teeth and viciously shakes its head left and right to tear the flesh off of their food.
Although the whale shark is a massive animal luckily its throat isn’t nearly large enough to swallow a human or another marine mammal, so there is little to fear when swimming next to these large sharks.
In fact most marine biologists and specialists state that the whale shark isn’t considered a threat to humans and in some cases is even playful with divers, however despite this marine specialists warm people not to become too physical or aggressive with them and people should not approach these sharks for any reason as their nature is not always predictable.
While they may not be able to swallow a human it is possible that a person can still get caught in its mouth or get struck by an aggressive whale shark.
Sharks (fish) vs whales
In regards to the differences between sharks (which are fish) and whales (which are marine mammals) there are a number of physiological differences among the two distinct species.
Whales are marine mammals and belong to the cetacean family which is made up of all species of whale, dolphin and porpoise.
As marine mammals they are warm-blooded, produce milk to feed their children, give birth (whales have a pregnancy/gestation period) and breathe air.
Because whales breathe air they must frequently rise to the surface of the water to obtain their oxygen otherwise they could drown and while some species are able to hold their breath for up to 90 minutes they are still very limited in how long they can stay submerged.
Unlike whales sharks do not need to rise to the surface to obtain their oxygen as they possess gills.
In fact while a whale is able to drown underwater a whale shark is able to suffocate above the water due to a lack of lungs or specialized breathing organs that would be necessary to to extract oxygen from the surface air.
As a species sharks/fish are largely cold-blooded, lay eggs (most species lay eggs externally, while a few keep their eggs internal), extract oxygen from the water through their gills and do not nurse their young (depending on the species most fish/sharks either fend for themselves at birth or carry a sack full of nutrients until they can hunt on their own).
When it comes to reproduction and nurture there is a significant difference in how the two types of marine animals are raised.
After birth female whales care for their young by feeding them milk and nurturing them until they are able to hunt for food and survive on their own.
Most species of shark on the other hand aren’t known to care for their young and do not nurture their children.
These marine animals are more focused on producing lot’s of offspring (some sharks can lay thousands of eggs in a single year) rather than caring for an individual baby shark, while whales produce one offspring every 2 – 6 years so it is important for them to nurture their young and make sure they grow up healthy.
In regards to the whale shark in particular these animals carry their eggs on them and a female can carry up to 300 eggs in a given cycle.
In order to not overwhelm the mother her eggs will hatch at different times rather than all at once which prevents her from having to try and manage the stress of dealing with too many eggs hatching at once.
When it comes to swimming whales are designed to swim by arching their spines and lifting their horizontal flukes up and down to create propulsion.
Whale sharks on the other hand swim by moving their bodies from left to right and use their vertical fins to push themselves forward through the water and pass water over their gills.
Differences between whale sharks and real whales
As stated previously there are a number of differences between the two animals.
For instance whale are warm-blooded so they have a thick layer of insulated blubber to help keep their body and vital organs warm.
Whale sharks on the other hand are cold-blooded so they do not need a thick layer of blubber or body fat to stay warm and their bodies can adjust to the changes in the oceans climate as it gets warmer or colder.
Whales are also known to go through a pregnancy period where they carry their young in the womb and feed it through an umbilical cord until the child is born.
These marine mammals give birth to a single offspring once every several years and nurse their child with milk until it can hunt for food on its own.
Although the whale shark does carry its eggs on its body it does not have a placental connection with its young and the babies are fed egg yolk from their eggs instead of being fed nutrients through an umbilical cord.
In addition to this a whale shark can give birth to hundreds off offspring in a given cycle and the eggs may hatch all year long while numerous whale species have a separate mating season and feeding season with a 10 – 17 month pregnancy period.
Lastly, the whale shark is estimated to have a lifespan of 100 years or more making them one of the longest living animals alive.
Most species of whale on the other hand have a lifespan of between 30 – 70 years, however there are a few species such as humpback whale, fin whale and bowhead whale that are known to live until 100 – 200 years.