ジンベエザメ

📖 1. 概要

体長12～18m、体重20トンに達し、現生するすべての魚類の中で最も巨大な温厚な濾過摂食性のサメです。

🌐 Wikipedia 要約抜粋

The whale shark is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. An individual with a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft) has been considered the largest reliably recorded. The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living non-cetacean animal. It is the only living species of the genus Rhincodon and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae, which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. Before 1984, it was classified as Rhiniodon into Rhinodontidae. An extinct species, Rhincodon ferriolensis, was described in Europe, in the Late Burdigalian stage.

🦴 2. 体の構造と特徴

背中の白い斑点と縞模様のパターンは人間の指紋のように個体ごとに固有であり、幅1.5mの口で1時間あたり6,000リットルの海水を濾過してプランクトンを食べます。

🔍 3. 生態と行動

眼球の表面にも微細な歯状の鱗（楯鱗）が覆っており、外部の衝撃から目を保護します。

🇰🇷 4. 韓国との関わり

済州島沿岸や南海で夏に観察される海洋保護生物です。