---
title: "Whale Shark"
description: "Rhincodon typus — Fish. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/whale-shark
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Whale Shark

> Rhincodon typus — Fish. The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species.

- Scientific name: *Rhincodon typus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 2807
- Wikidata: [Q80378](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80378)
- iNaturalist taxon: [52188](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52188)

## Names

- en: Whale Shark
- de: Walhai
- es: Tiburón ballena
- fr: Requin baleine
- nl: Walvishaai
- pt: Tubarão-baleia
- pl: Rekin wielorybi

## Countries with the most observations

MX (495), PH (226), ID (126), MV (117), AU (103), EC (42), TH (39), MZ (33), PA (32), TZ (26), HN (24), SH (19)

## Summary

The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. An individual with a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft) has been considered the largest reliably recorded. The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living non-cetacean animal. It is the only living species of the genus Rhincodon and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae, which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. Before 1984, it was classified as Rhiniodon into Rhinodontidae. An extinct species…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

## Photo

![Whale Shark](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/whale-shark/medium.jpg)

Photo: TheMongrelKoi · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/45899320

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/whale-shark?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).