When you purchase through link on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .

The world ’s largest Pisces is thewhale shark , which can grow to 40 foot prospicient and weigh an average of 20 short ton . The shark are carnivorous , but they are n’t probable to take a nibble out of an unwary surfer – they permeate plankton through their enormous mouths while swim at the surface . In fact , whale shark are so favorable that masses often swim with them .

The universe ’s secondly largest fish , the basking shark , is also a filter feeder .

Life’s Little Mysteries

The world’s largest fish, a whale shark, can grow up to 40 feet long.

The gravid confirm individual shark was 41.5 foot retentive and weighed 47,000 pound – though sailors say they have project sharks that are even magnanimous . Whale sharks are the largest non - whale brute in the world , and their enormous size set them in a class with dinosaur . Whale shark are a vulnerable species , and despite conservation efforts the school - bus - sized creature bear on to be hunted in some Asiatic land .

Scientists are still attempt to puzzle out the migration and behavior of these gentle giants . They primarily survive in warm tropical waters and use their built - in filter to feed , but there is some grounds that they take recollective migratory journeys to colder deeper H2O during unlike parts of the twelvemonth . They also have never been observed mating or give birth in the wild , though scientist have envision out that they give birth to live young ( the eggs hatch within the female parent ’s body ) . Females stock sperm and give birth to live shark pup throughout the class . Whale shark be to be 70 - 100 years old .

What about the freehanded Pisces the Fishes ever caught ? 21 - groundwork - long whale sharks have been caught , but we ’re going to give that Pisces taradiddle title to a 1496 - pound Atlantic Bluefin tuna caught off the glide of Nova Scotia back on October 26 , 1979 . Ken Fraser land the behemoth Pisces in an telling 45 minutes , and has write abookabout his experience .

fish, shark, largest, biggest, world, guinness

The world’s largest fish, a whale shark, can grow up to 40 feet long.

The largest freshwater taking into custody may be a bear - sized catfish caught in the Mekong River in Thailand in 2005 . It weighed 646 pounds . The villagers say they tried to keep it live , but it expire so they ate it .

an illustration of a shark being eaten by an even larger shark

A humpback whale breaches out of the water

a group of dolphins looks at the camera

The oddity of an octopus riding a shark.

a pack of orcas

A photograph of a newly discovered mosasaur fossil in a human hand.

Researchers in the Weddell Sea were surprised to find 60 million icefish nests, each guarded by an adult and each holding an average of 1,700 eggs.

A goldfish drives a water-filled, motorized "car."

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are most active in waters around the Cape Cod coast between August and October.

The ancient Phoebodus shark may have resembled the modern-day frilled shark, shown here.

A colorful blue and red betta fish against a black background.

A fish bone pierced a hole through a man�s intestine. Above, an X-ray showing the fish bone in the man�s gut, in the upper right corner of the image.

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an MRI scan of a brain

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.

Pelican eel (Eurypharynx) head.