Sharks play the role of predators in the marine ecosystem, and humans generally think of them as ferocious killers. But in fact the whale shark is the most docile of all the 370 known living shark species, and is not innately aggressive. The whale shark is known to science as Rhincodon typus, and is classified taxonomically as the sole member of the family Rhincodontidae.
在海洋中扮演掠食者角色的鯊魚，總是給人凶悍的印象，但在目前已知的三百七十多種鯊魚中，鯨鯊其實是最溫馴的一種，缺乏天賦的攻擊性，在鯊魚中自成一科、一屬。