Adjacent Words

whale shark definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: large spotted shark of warm surface waters worldwide; resembles a whale and feeds chiefly on plankton [syn: whale shark, Rhincodon typus]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1885 a shark (Rhincodon typus) of warm waters that has small teeth, feeds chiefly on plankton strained by its gill rakers, may sometimes attain a length of up to 60 feet (18.3 meters), and is the largest known fish

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Note: The existing whales are divided into two groups: the toothed whales (Odontocete), including those that have teeth, as the cachalot, or sperm whale (see Sperm whale); and the baleen, or whalebone, whales (Mysticete), comprising those that are destitute of teeth, but have plates of baleen hanging from the upper jaw, as the right whales. The most important species of whalebone whales are the bowhead, or Greenland, whale (see Illust. of Right whale), the Biscay whale, the Antarctic whale, the gray whale (see under Gray), the humpback, the finback, and the rorqual. Whale bird. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Any one of several species of large Antarctic petrels which follow whaling vessels, to feed on the blubber and floating oil; especially, Prion turtur (called also blue petrel), and Pseudoprion desolatus. (b) The turnstone; -- so called because it lives on the carcasses of whales. [Canada] Whale fin (Com.), whalebone. --Simmonds. Whale fishery, the fishing for, or occupation of taking, whales. Whale louse (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of degraded amphipod crustaceans belonging to the genus Cyamus, especially C. ceti. They are parasitic on various cetaceans. Whale's bone, ivory. [Obs.] Whale shark. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The basking, or liver, shark. (b) A very large harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) native of the Indian Ocean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet long. Whale shot, the name formerly given to spermaceti. Whale's tongue (Zo["o]l.), a balanoglossus.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shark Shark, n. [Of uncertain origin; perhaps through OF. fr. carcharus a kind of dogfish, Gr. karchari`as, so called from its sharp teeth, fr. ka`rcharos having sharp or jagged teeth; or perhaps named from its rapacity (cf. Shark, v. t. & i.); cf. Corn. scarceas.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes of the order Plagiostomi, found in all seas. Note: Some sharks, as the basking shark and the whale shark, grow to an enormous size, the former becoming forty feet or more, and the latter sixty feet or more, in length. Most of them are harmless to man, but some are exceedingly voracious. The man-eating sharks mostly belong to the genera Carcharhinus, Carcharodon, and related genera. They have several rows of large sharp teeth with serrated edges, as the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias, or Rondeleti) of tropical seas, and the great blue shark (Carcharhinus glaucus) of all tropical and temperate seas. The former sometimes becomes thirty-six feet long, and is the most voracious and dangerous species known. The rare man-eating shark of the United States coast (Charcarodon Atwoodi) is thought by some to be a variety, or the young, of C. carcharias. The dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus), and the smaller blue shark (C. caudatus), both common species on the coast of the United States, are of moderate size and not dangerous. They feed on shellfish and bottom fishes. 2. A rapacious, artful person; a sharper. [Colloq.] 3. Trickery; fraud; petty rapine; as, to live upon the shark. [Obs.] --South. Baskin shark, Liver shark, Nurse shark, Oil shark, Sand shark, Tiger shark, etc. See under Basking, Liver, etc. See also Dogfish, Houndfish, Notidanian, and Tope. Gray shark, the sand shark. Hammer-headed shark. See Hammerhead. Port Jackson shark. See Cestraciont. Shark barrow, the eggcase of a shark; a sea purse. Shark ray. Same as Angel fish (a), under Angel. Thrasher shark, or Thresher shark, a large, voracious shark. See Thrasher. Whale shark, a huge harmless shark (Rhinodon typicus) of the Indian Ocean. It becomes sixty feet or more in length, but has very small teeth.