Whale Shark

Whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world. They can grow up to eighteen meters (or sixty feet), and some scientists think they can live up to a hundred and thirty years! How does such an enormous animal eat enough each day? Look at the jawbone on the shelf in front of you. This is the mouth of a young whale shark, and look how big it already is. Whale sharks are filter feeders, which means they suck in a huge amount of water and plankton. Then they filter out the water through their gills, leaving only the plankton, which they swallow. A young whale shark can eat around twenty kilos of plankton in a day!