Rhincodon typus
The largest fish in the world, which filters plankton near the surface. It is threatened in Brazil, and catching it is prohibited: the right thing is to recognize it and release it.
Also called: tubarão-baleia, tiburón ballena, pez dama, whale shark
The whale shark belongs to the family Rhincodontidae and reaches 1,700 cm. It is the largest fish in the world and poses no danger to people. It lives in open ocean, but often appears near the coast, in lagoons and coral atolls and, sometimes, in shallow waters of estuaries and river mouths, during periods of shrimp abundance. It is usually seen alone or in groups of more than 100 individuals, often together with schools of pelagic fish. It feeds on plankton and small fish, crustaceans and squid, filtering water through its modified gills. It is ovoviviparous, with litters of more than 300 pups. It migrates between ocean basins and returns to the same places every year.
Essential profile. Identification, where it occurs and rules, with data from FishBase and the cited regulations. Season, time of day, technique and bait are added once we have a good source for the whale shark.
Huge shark with a broad, flattened head and a large mouth, almost in front of the eyes. The back is grey, bluish or greenish brown, with white or yellow spots and stripes in a checkerboard pattern. The underside is white or yellowish. It has skin ridges along the body that end in a keel on the tail stock, and spiracles near the eyes, larger than the eyes themselves.
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Each card shows the day's index (0 to 100) and, below it, a strip with the index for each hour, from 0h to 23h. from poor to excellent.
Essential profile: the index uses a general fish model (weather, sun, moon and tide), without a season or time of day specific to this species.
Occurs in tropical and subtropical seas across almost all of Latin America, in the Atlantic and the Pacific, mainly in open ocean and near the coast.
Habitat: Open ocean and coastal waters, near the surface, from 0 to 100 m deep.
coast
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: On the national list of threatened species as VU. Global IUCN assessment: EN.
The national list (Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026) classifies the species as VU. Under Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.666/2026 (art. 3º), VU, EN and CR species have full protection: catch, transport, storage, processing and sale are banned. If you hook one by accident, release it at once, handling it as little as possible.
Source: Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.666/2026, art. 3º, and Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026
Threatened species: catching it is prohibited in Brazil. If you hook one by accident, release it right away, with minimal handling.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.00389, b = 3.12; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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Essential profile: size, length-weight, depth, countries and conservation come from FishBase and the cited regulations, and the texts were written from those sources. Season, time of day, sensitivities, technique and baits and lures are not included yet, because we did not find a good source for this species.
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