Whale shark

The whale shark is the largest living fish species characterised by a sreamlined body and a depressed, broad, and flattened head. It has a unique “checkerboard” colour pattern of light spots and stripes on a dark background. Whale sharks feed on a wide variety of planktonic and nektonic prey, such as small crustaceans using an active suction filter-feeding method. The whale shark has a very widespread distribution, occurring in all tropical and warm temperate seas, except in the Mediterranean. They are often found at or near the water surface in very shallow costal habitat.