As it was mentioned already, whale shark is the biggest among shark species. The average weight is nearly 12 tones, but there are some claims of 20 tones. As one could guess, whale sharks can boast of a significant body length as well \u2013 11-12 meters. In addition, they have a tail fin 4,5 meters and pectoral fins 2,4 meters long. Whale sharks possess a pretty massive and strong body regardless flattened head.\u00a0 In practice, they can be of grey, brown and even blue color, covered with white and yellow spots, usually posing some sort of a pattern. One more peculiar thing to note is a presence of five wide gill openings, through which extra water is leaked.<\/p>\n

A visual image of whale shark was a total mystery for science until 1828, when the species representative was caught and killed near South-American coast. As these animals are distributed in subsurface tropical waters only, earlier the legends of marine giants were told by sailors, who ranged the seas of new lands. To date, big whale sharks\u2019 groups are observed near California, Philippines and in Cuban waters.<\/p>\n

Reproduction<\/h2>\n

This issue is a long-standing object of scientific interest. Since the discovery of whale shark in the 19^{th<\/sup> century little information has been collected about the breeding process. In particular, it is a confirmed fact that whale sharks are ovoviviparous animals; their kids hatch being in female\u2019s womb and continue to develop in hermetic capsules. It is a rare occasion to find such a capsule in egg tubes, but the egg was revealed in Gulf of Mexico, which impressed with fairly big sizes \u2013 70 cm long and 40 cm in diameter. There was only one female caught to investigate the reproduction of whale sharks. It occurred in 1995 and the shark had 307 embryos.<\/p>\n}