Scientific Name	Rhincodon typus   Pronounce			by: Lab of Fish Ecol. and Evo., BRCAS
Author	Smith, 1828	Depth	2 - 1000M
Chinese	鯨鯊	Poisonous Fish	No
Family_Chinese	鯨鯊科	Economic Fish	Yes
Family	F015　Rhincodontidae	Edible Fish	Yes	Chinese In Mainland China	鯨鯊
Max Length	2000 cm	Aquarium Fish	No	Common Name	豆腐沙、大憨沙、鯨鮫
Distribution in World	global	Distribution in Taiwan	East、South、PonFu、Greeb IS.
Habitats	Ocean、Deep Sea、Coastal、Lagoon、 Coral&Sand	Holotype Locality	Table Bay, South Africa [southeastern Atlantic]
Synonyms	Micristodus punctatus, Rhicodon typus, Rhineodon typus, Rhiniodon typus, Rhinodon pentalineatus, Rhinodon typicus, Rhinodon typicus
Reference	臺灣魚類誌(沈等, 1993)；中國動物誌-圓口綱及軟骨魚綱(朱等, 2001)；FAO Species Catalogue, Vol.4 Sharks of the world  Compagno, L.J.V. 1984 Compagno, L.J.V. 1984 沈世傑 編 Shih-Chieh Shen ed. 1993 Last, P.R. etc. 1994 朱元鼎, 孟慶聞 等編 2001 Compagno L. J. V. 2001
Specimen List	ASIZP0058275. FRIP00942. mnhn2003-2144. ROM70377. SIO96-81.
Common Name	Whaleshark; Whale shark; Basking shark
Redlist Status	2020-04-28 COA, Taiwan Redlist: Critically Endangered    IUCN Redlist: Endangered(EN) A2bd+4bd 2016-03-18   CITES Appendix 2
Characteristic	A very large shark with cylindrical or moderately depressed body. Head very broad and flattened, with 5 large gill slits, the posterior 3 over the pectoral-fin bases; no gill rakers but filter grids of transverse bars and lobes across the internal gill slits; spiracles much smaller than eyes; nostrils with short, quadrate anterior nasal flaps, minute barbels, and shallow nasoral grooves; no nictitating eyelids; snout extremely short, truncated ; mouth nearly subterminal, very wide, transverse and short, not reaching backward to eyes; teeth very small and extremely numerous, similar in both jaws, not bladelike and with hooked cusps. Two dorsal fins, the first with rear 1/3 of base over pelvic-fin bases, the second less than half the size of first; anal fin present; caudal fin asymmetrical, crescentic, with a strong lower lobe but no subterminal notch. Caudal peduncle depressed, with a strong keel on each side continuing forward onto the back and over the gill slits as a small ridge and flanked by 2 additional ridges above; upper precaudal pit present. Colour: a unique checkerboard pattern of white or yellow spots, horizontal and vertical stripes on a grey, bluish, reddish or greenish brown dorsal surface, abruptly white or yellowish on the underside of the body.
habitats	This is by far the world’s largest fish-like vertebrate, with an uncertain maximum size. Maximum total length at least 12 m; possibly 17 to 18 m or even 21.4 m. An epipelagic and neritic, oceanic and coastal, tropical and warm-temperate pelagic shark, oft
Distribution	Circumglobal in the tropical and warm temperate Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, oceanic and coastal.
Utility	The whale shark was formerly of limited interest to fisheries worldwide, but recently became the subject of a high value fishery off Taiwan and the Pilippines for fins, flesh, and other products. Captured in gill nets and sometimes in trawls, and often ha