I once caught a fish this big...

[Delta4Embassy]

Didn't know where else to put this but wanted to share

VIDEO Florida teen takes ride on whale shark - NY Daily News

"Massive whale shark takes Florida teen Chris Kreis on 10-second ride
Both Kreis and the 50,000-pound creature were unharmed even though it was a dangerous move, an expert says."

 

[Delta4Embassy]

No way 50,000 pounds. Looking at the pics, 5,000 would be pushing it.

 

[Roadrunner]

No way 50,000 pounds. Looking at the pics, 5,000 would be pushing it.

Stick to dicks, you know more about them.




The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 m (41.50 ft) and a weight of more than 21.5 metric tons (47,000 lb), and unconfirmed reports of considerably larger whale sharks exist.

• Whale shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark
  Wikipedia
  
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[Delta4Embassy]

No way 50,000 pounds. Looking at the pics, 5,000 would be pushing it.

Stick to dicks, you know more about them.




The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving filter feeding shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 m (41.50 ft) and a weight of more than 21.5 metric tons (47,000 lb), and unconfirmed reports of considerably larger whale sharks exist.

• Whale shark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark
  Wikipedia
  
  Loading...

Specimen in the pic is no more than 20 feet. Unless whale and white sharks are considerably different, a 20 foot 5,000lb whale shark would be a morbidly obese example.

Before I studied dicks, and while other kids read dinosaur books, I was reading shark books.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

No way 50,000 pounds. Looking at the pics, 5,000 would be pushing it.

You think that thing only weighs the equivalent of a couple of cows and a yearling?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

No way 50,000 pounds. Looking at the pics, 5,000 would be pushing it.

You think that thing only weighs the equivalent of a couple of cows and a yearling?

Often times weights of thigns are estimated using linear extension. If a confirmed 10 foot is 1000 pounds then a 30 footer is 3000. But that's almost never the reality. Plus there's few scales in the world set up to weigh things like whales and the biggest fishes like whale sharks.

If you wanna believe estimates are the reality go right ahead. But I've been disappointed by exaggerated guestimates of lengths of white sharks all my studious life. When the tape measures and scales come out, people start hedging.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Googling around for official measurements doesn't yield much for the above reasons - no scales can weigh that much. So estimates are the rule:

"Adults can measure 50 feet and may weigh over 13 tons."
www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/...of-shark/whale-shark/

"It is up to 40 feet (12 m) long and weighs up to 15 tons."
Enchanted Learning s On-Line Help

"A 12 metre whale shark may weigh as much as 11 tonnes"
www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/recreational.../fact_sheet_whale_shark.pdf

Estimated length of the one in the article is about 20-25 feet. Or 7 or 8 meters. If the estimates above are of ones a lot bigger than that, but half the 25 tons...