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Meet the Whale Shark!
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>A typical Rhincodon typus individual. Hello, gorgeous! Image credit: Story of Size.
This is the whale shark, also known by its scientific name, Rhincodon typus.
It may not be as big as a real whale, but rest assured, it's the "largest of all living fish species," potentially even the largest "of all time" (Dove & Pierce, 2022, vii). The average length for a whale shark is somewhere around 12 metres, but lengths beyond this are quite possible (Britannica, 2023). A study measuring the body size variation in marine megafauna determined that the maximum length for whale sharks was 18.8 metres--nearly 62 feet(McClain et al., 2015).
Considering that, the 'whale' comparison seems apt!
Of course, "whale shark" is only the English name for R. typus. Some languages similarly base the name of R. typus on its great size, such as the Vietnamese cá Ông, meaning 'sir fish' (Dove & Pierce, 2022, vii). However, others take a more unique approach. In Madagascar (one of the whale shark's many haunts), R. typus is marokintana: 'many stars' (Briggs, 2018).