LAST BITE.Is this scuba diver history? The whale shark whale shark, large, plankton-eating shark, Rhincodon typus, found in all tropical seas of the world. The largest known specimens are 50 ft (15 m) long, making them the largest fish in the world. isn't a whale, but earns its name from its bulk. It weighs in at 13,607 kilograms (30,000 pounds)! But humans aren't on the creature's menu. Though the shark sports 300 rows of tiny teeth--about 3,000 teeth in total--it doesn't chew or bite food. Rather, the shark swims with its 1.2-m (4-ft) wide mouth open, collecting plankton plankton: see marine biology. plankton Marine and freshwater organisms that, because they are unable to move or are too small or too weak to swim against water currents, exist in a drifting, floating state. (microscopic plants and animals Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie-rock band from Montreal, comprised of guitarist-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque, and drummer-vocalist Matthew Woodley.[1] They are signed to Secret City Records. ) and small fish at the warm ocean surface. Thousands of rakers, long bristle-like structures, are attached to the mouth gills, organs that take in oxygen. The shark's rakers trap edible organisms, then expel ex·pel tr.v. ex·pelled, ex·pel·ling, ex·pels 1. To force or drive out: expel an invader. 2. water through the gills. What's not strained is swallowed. Gulp! |
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