When we talk about fish, we usually think about their taste, not their size. However, the largest fish in the world are so big that they could swallow the tallest man on Earth and still have room left over for a snack. Don't believe us? We'll prove it.
10. Giant sunfish - 3 meters long
This fish, a species of sunfish, was discovered quite recently, in 2014. Consequently, little is known about its lifestyle. What is clear is that it is one of the largest fish in the world. It is also one of the heaviest, weighing up to 2 tons, comparable to an adult female elephant.
Mola tecta, as scientists have named it, is the first new sunfish species discovered in 130 years.
9. Common sunfish - 3.4 m
For residents of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, this marine giant is a delicious delicacy. Taiwan even hosts large-scale culinary festivals in honor of the sunfish, attracting hundreds of tourists. The fish itself is unlikely to be pleased, but who asks the food's opinion?
Because of the distinctive shape of its fins, this easygoing and clumsy fish is sometimes mistaken for a shark. However, the sharp-tailed sunfish is difficult to confuse with other fish due to the unique shape of its tail, which resembles a pointed protrusion.
8. Beluga - 4.2 m
The largest freshwater fish is about to roar, as it is endangered. The beluga's habitat is limited to the Black, Caspian, and Azov seas. Humans intensively exploit this species for its black caviar, a highly prized and rare delicacy.
Unregulated fishing and poaching have significantly reduced beluga populations, creating an urgent need to protect them from commercial exploitation.
By the way, the expression "beluga roar" is actually associated with another predatory fish - the toothed whale beluga.
According to unconfirmed reports, beluga sturgeons can grow much larger than 4 and even 5 meters. The largest specimen reportedly reached 9 meters.
7. Atlantic blue marlin - 5 m
This giant, inhabiting the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, has virtually no natural enemies. And it would prosper and multiply unhindered if not for the most feared predator on Earth—humans. For humans, blue marlin are just prey. In one of the best fishing countries, Cuba, there's even a fishing tournament named after Ernest Hemingway. It's dedicated specifically to blue marlin fishing, a pastime the famous writer enjoyed during his lifetime.
6. Reef Manta - 5.5 meters wide
One of the largest fish living in the world today, this species of ray, also known as Manta alfredi, is typically found in tropical and subtropical marine waters but is absent from the eastern Pacific Ocean and the western Atlantic Ocean.
The fish can weigh up to 1.4 tons, and its huge pectoral fins, together with its body, form a disk reaching up to 5.5 m in width. Moreover, the manta's body length is approximately 2.4 times smaller than its width.
Manta alfredi primarily feeds on zooplankton and poses no danger to humans. Previously, there were rumors that such a large ray could swallow a person or crush them by embracing them with its wing-like fins.
5. Great white shark - 6.4 m
It's impossible to accurately measure the length of a great white shark, as few would be willing to approach this living killing machine with a tape measure. Unconfirmed reports suggest that a great white shark can reach 10 meters in length, but the recorded length is 6.4 meters.
It may not be the largest fish in the world, but it's certainly the most dangerous. Most shark attacks on humans are caused by great white sharks. They most often encounter humans in coastal waters. Incidentally, Steven Spielberg's famous film "Jaws" is about a man-eating great white shark.
While humans aren't a favorite food item for great white sharks in real life, unprovoked attacks on swimmers and fishermen by this dangerous predator are quite common.
The great white shark is the most feared predator in its ecosystem, although killer whales provide a worthy rival, sometimes even killing them through teamwork and swift action. It's a shame killer whales are mammals, not fish, otherwise they would have earned a worthy place on our list of the world's largest fish. The video clearly shows the differences between a great white shark and a killer whale.
4. Saw-nosed stingray - 7 m
These little-studied cartilaginous fishes reach enormous sizes. However, much of their length consists of their long, saw-shaped snouts.
In appearance, the sawfish resembles the sawshark. However, the latter might well call the rays "baby sharks" and say "things were better in the old days." This is because sawsharks evolved much earlier than sawfish—back at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, while sawfish evolved 60 million years later.
These fish are big fans of fishing in murky waters, literally. Sawfish spend most of their lives near the bottom, uninterested in what's happening above the surface. While young specimens prefer shallow water, adult sawfish dive to depths of 40 meters or more.
3. Basking shark - 9.8 m
The third-largest fish in the world. It looks menacing in photos, but it's actually a harmless creature whose diet consists of plankton. The basking shark feeds near the surface of the water, as if basking in the sun, hence its nickname—the "sunfish.".
Years of intensive commercial exploitation for food, shark liver oil and shark fin production, and many other factors have greatly reduced the population of this species.
2. Herring King - 11 m
Move over, rays and sharks, this is the kingfish, the longest-lived fish in the world. The largest specimens ever caught reached 7 and 11 meters. The kingfish even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest living bony fish.
However, the fish received its name from Norwegian fishermen not for its body length, but because it was caught in schools of herring, and because it had a «crown» on its head, consisting of the elongated first rays of the dorsal fin.
1. Whale shark - 20 m
Here's the answer to two questions: what is the largest fish and what is the largest shark in the world? Weighing up to 21.5 tons, the whale shark is the largest living fish species.
Whale sharks are found in the open waters of warm tropical seas. These fish can live up to 70 years. Despite their size, this creature rarely poses a threat to humans and feeds primarily on plankton. Whale sharks are listed as endangered by the IUCN.