#2013 · 🦈 sharks & rays
Whale Shark
🇳🇱 Walvishaai ·Rhincodon typus
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Simon Pierce · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Daniel Benák · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Erik Schlögl · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Bert Klangpremchitt · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Zac Wolf · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 6. © Rafael de la Parra · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Venezuela:© Pedro D. Vernet P. · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Rafael de la Parra · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Franca Wermuth · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Philippines:© Carmelo López Abad · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The whale shark ( Rhincodon typus ) is a slow-moving filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. 5 t (47,000 lb). The whale shark holds many records for sheer size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living nonmammalian vertebrate. It is the sole member of the genus Rhincodon and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae ...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 3,134 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Can weigh about 12 tonnes: as much as 9 cars.
- Up to 14 m long: 7.8× a tall person.
- Scientifically named by Andrew Smith in 1828 (198 years ago).
- Listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
fact sheet
- English
- Whale Shark
- Nederlands
- Walvishaai
- scientific name
- Rhincodon typus
- class
- Chondrichthyes
- order
- Orectolobiformes
- family
- Rhincodontidae
- IUCN Red List
- EN · endangered
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 3
- sightings worldwide
- 3,134
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- 12 t
- length
- 14.02 m
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1828 by Andrew Smith
IUCN in Dutch: bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 52188, Wikidata Q80378, GBIF 2417522, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.