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Rhincodon typus

Āyeni (PK)

Whale Shark

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Adult (colour illustration)	18KB
Image:	Sideview & head detail (b&w illustration)	70KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Whale Shark; French Requin Baleine

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Mangō (MG), Mangō Maru (MK), Mangō To‘orā* (MT), Mango (TS TW), Āyeni (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE ? - Cooks - Fr.Poly., Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group - rare; N.Group - rare; Marine, pelagic

KEY FEATURES: To 12m TL., to 41,000kg.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+	P	-	P	P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
++			P		+

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828
SYNONYMS: Rhiniodon typus

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; CHONDRICHTHYES; Orectolobiformes; RHINCODONTIDAE

More Information

GENERAL NOTE: 13m. World's largest fish.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: fieldspecimen+photo, 4m specimen outside reef by Graham Pacific Divers, HI8 footage taken, 2/1999. Pukapuka: informant reports at NBSAP meeting, 2/2004. Suwarrow: Sims obs. 5m specimen 100m off reef (Sims88 & EIA99).

References:
text p.32 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate -032 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.15 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.40 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 1-01 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 1-01 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....
Species No. 6 Munro (1967) Fishes of New Guinea

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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