The whale shark

The whale shark

  22/ JUN/ 2019

They feed on plankton, capture these tiny plants and animals, along with any small fish that pass near colossal open mouth while swimming near the surface of the water.

 
The whale shark, like the second largest fish on the planet, the peregrine shark, feeds by filtration. To eat, he opens wide his huge jaws and absorbs everything that is nearby. After closing the mouth, expelling and filtering the water by the gills. Everything that is left inside is ingested by this giant shark.
 
Its head is flattened, with small beards protruding from the nostrils. Its back and sides are between gray and brown, with white spots between vertical and horizontal pale stripes, and the belly is white. Its two dorsal fins are oriented towards the back of its body, which ends with a large tail or bifurcated caudal fin.
 
These giants of the sea, prefer the warm waters, and are present in all tropical seas migrating seasonally to areas that offer plankton in abundance.
In the Mexican Caribbean we have the great fortune of receiving them in the summer months, where a large number of them come to feed on our shores ...
 
These huge fish reach sexual maturity at 30 years and females have up to 300 puppies per litter. The eggs grow inside the mother and the new fish come out ready to swim. Whale shark babies measure about 40 cm
 
Despite its enormous size, the whale shark is a docile fish that sometimes allows divers to swim with them.