Garrick (1964)
(download as pdf)
3 size classes
Litters of Whale Shark Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828 |
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| Photograph | Litter size | TL embryo* (cm) | Mass embryo* (kg) | TL fem. (m) | M fem. (kg) | Capture date | Capture location | Reference |
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| Female had 16 eggcases in one of her oviducts | 1910 | Ceylon | McCormick and Allen with Young (1963) | |||||
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see below | see below | see below | see belwo | McCormick and Allen with Young (1963) | |||
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35 | embryo was inside 30x14x9 cm eggcase | 29 Jun 1953 | Gulf of Mexico, eggcase trawled from 57 m | Garrick 1964; Compagno
1984; |
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| Compagno 1984: "In 1953 a large eggcase, 30 cm long, 14 cm wide, and 9 cm thick containing a nearly full-term 35 cm embryo whale shark was collected from the Gulf of Mexico, and the assumption was made that the species is oviparous (Baughman 1955; Garrick 1964; Bass et al. 1975). However, the rarity of 'free-living' whale shark eggs, the extreme thinness and lack of tendrils on the only known case, the considerable yolk and partially developed gill sieve in the only known embryo, and the presence of umbilcal scars on larger free living specimens 55 cm long suggest the whale shark is ovoviviparous." | ||||||||
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300 | 42-64, 3 size classes |
1 kg for 0.58 cm embryo | 10 | 16000 | 15 Jul 1995 | Off Tong Ho on east coast of Taiwan | Young et al. 1996 (AES abstract) |
| A recently harpooned pregnant female contained about 300 embryos in the uteri. About 15 of the pups were alive and put into containers with sea water. Only 2 could be kept alive, one in Japan, the other in Taiwan. Sex ratio of 237 embryos was 123:114. | ||||||||
| "A newborn specimen was found inside the stomch of a blue shark (Prionace glauca; Kukuyev 1996)." Compagno (2001). | ||||||||
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? | 38 as per URL; looks longer in picture, 50-60 cm? | Mar 2009, URL was dated 9 Mar 2009 | Pilar town near Donsol in Sorsogon province, Philippines | http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/smallest-whale-shark-ever-found.html | |||
| Photograph | Litter size | TL embryo* (cm) | Mass embryo* (kg) | TL fem. (m) | M fem. (kg) | Capture date | Capture location | Reference |
| Created April 2002; revised March 2009. Back to previous page Please send comments or corrections to mollet@pacbell.net |