ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1047 



WHALE SHARK (.Bhincodon typus) FLORIDA 



THE WHALE SHARK 



IN THIS issue of the Bulletin are two 

 pictures of the largest of all fishes, the 

 Whale Shark (Rhineodon typus), which 

 is said to reach sixty feet, and is definitely 

 known to exceed fifty feet in length. A speci- 

 men actually measured in the Indian Ocean 

 was more than forty-five feet long. 



Our photographs represent a shark, which 

 as e mounted, is forty-five feet long. Its 

 mouth, as one picture shows, is large enough 

 to accommodate a man presumably of the 

 size of Jonah. We have no information as 

 to the size of its throat, which may or may 

 not be so large, as the animal, like its 

 relative the great basking shark, feeds 

 chiefly upon minute surface life and is quite 

 harmless to man. Among existing creatures 

 it comes next to the greater whales in size. 



It was captured on June 1, 19T2, near 

 Knight's Key, Florida, by Captain Charles 

 Thompson, who presented the picture of the 

 mounted specimen when he called at the 

 Aquarium. It was exhibited for a short time 

 in New York and was later taken to Atlantic 

 City. 



This is the second recorded instance of the 

 appearance of this shark in Florida waters, 

 although it has long been known from such 

 widely separated regions as the Indian Ocean, 

 Bay of Panama, Gulf of California and the 

 coast of Japan. It was first described by 

 Dr. Andrew Smith in 1829, from a specimen 

 taken at the Cape of Good Hope. 



Like the great basking shark its teeth are 

 small and quite useless for offensive purposes; 

 in this species they are very numerous but 



extremely minute. It is 

 quite different in apearance 

 from most other sharks, 

 having a blunt head with 

 the mouth placed well for- 

 ward instead of underneath 

 the head as is usually the 

 case. The eyes are small 

 and are placed low, near 

 the corner of the mouth. 

 The gill slits are unusually 

 large. This species is 

 covered with round white 

 spots, most numerous on 

 the head. 



An interesting account 

 of the Whale Shark by 

 B. A. Bean, will be found 

 in Smithsonian Miscellan- 

 eous Collections, Vol. 48, 

 1905. As observed in various parts of the 

 world, it is sluggish and in no way dangerous. 

 Its large size alone renders it difficult to cap- 

 ture. Captain Thompson's specimen was 



WHALE SHARK. FLORIDA. 1913 



