| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANIMALIA | CHORDATA | CHONDRICHTHYES | ORECTOLOBIFORMES | RHINCODONTIDAE |
| Scientific Name: | Rhincodon typus | |||||||||
| Species Authority: | Smith, 1828 | |||||||||
Common Name/s:
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| Red List Category & Criteria: | Vulnerable A1bd+2d ver 2.3 |
| Year Assessed: | 2000 |
| Assessor/s | Norman, B. (Shark Specialist Group) |
| Evaluator/s: | Musick, J.A. & Fowler, S. (Shark Red List Authority) |
|
Justification: The life history of this relatively scarce but cosmopolitan tropical and warm temperate species is poorly understood, but it may be relatively fecund and migrates extremely large distances. Catches have declined and populations apparently been depleted by harpoon fisheries in several countries targeting localised concentrations of this huge, slow-moving and behaviourally-vulnerable species, and there is incidental capture in other fisheries. Directed fisheries, high value in international trade, a K-selected life history, highly migratory nature, and low abundance make this species vulnerable to exploitation. In recent years dive tourism involving this species has developed in a number of locations around the world. |
|
| Range Description: | The whale shark occurs in all tropical and warm temperate seas, oceans and coastal areas around the globe. |
| Countries: |
Native:
American Samoa; Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Bahrain; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Brazil; British Indian Ocean Territory; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Cayman Islands; Chile; China; Christmas Island; Colombia; Comoros; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Cook Islands; Costa Rica (Cocos I.); Cuba; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador (Galápagos); Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Fiji; French Guiana; French Polynesia (Marquesas, Tuamotu); Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea, Republic of; Kuwait; Liberia; Macao; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Martinique; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of; Montserrat; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nauru; Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao); New Caledonia; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Niue; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Portugal; Puerto Rico; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Sao Tomé and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Seychelles; Singapore; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tokelau; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; Tuvalu; United Arab Emirates; United States; United States Minor Outlying Islands (Johnston I., Wake Is.); Vanuatu; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Wallis and Futuna; Yemen
Presence uncertain:
Bangladesh
|
| FAO Marine Fishing Areas: |
Native:
Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – western central; Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – southwest; Indian Ocean – eastern; Indian Ocean – western; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – southeast; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – southwest; Pacific – western central
|
| Population Trend: |
Decreasing
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| Habitat and Ecology: | The world's largest fish. R. typus is a pelagic shark often seen far offshore but also occurring in inshore waters. It sometimes enters coastal lagoons. The species is usually found close to the surface as a single individual or in schools or aggregations of up to hundreds of sharks. R. typus feeds on a wide variety of plankton and small nektonic organisms and occurs in waters suitable for the optimal production of such organisms. It is a highly migratory species and their movements are thought to be timed with blooms of planktonic organisms and changes in water temperatures (Compagno 1984). |
| Systems: | Marine |
| Major Threat(s): | The whale shark has a high value in international trade and the species is the target of directed fisheries. The species' K-selected life history, highly migratory nature, and low abundance make it particularly vulnerable to exploitation. In recent years dive tourism involving R. typus has developed in a number of locations around the world. |
| Conservation Actions: | Legally protected in the Philippines since 1998. |
| Citation: | Norman, B. 2000. Rhincodon typus. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 04 July 2009. |
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