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Latest species added:
- Centroscyllium nigrum Garman, 1899
- Isistius brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
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Rhincodon typus
Smith, 1828
Rhincodon typus
English Common Name: Whale shark
Spanish Common Name: tiburón ballena
Local Name: tiburón ballena
Taxonomic Comments: Syn.: Micristodus punctatus Gill, 1865, Rhiniodon typus (Smith, 1828), Rhinodon pentalineatus Kishinouye, 1901, Rhinodon typicus Müller & Henle, 1839, Rhinodon typicus Smith, 1845, fide Appeltans et al. (2010)
Comments: Habitat: Open waters in regions of upwelling.
Name Status: Accepted name; taxon occurs in Galapagos.
IUCN Status
Vulnerable - Considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
The IUCN Red List assessments presented here may deviate from the global IUCN listings for the following reasons:
- for well-known species groups, such as vascular plants or vertebrates, updates proposed to the IUCN are shown, rather than the outdated, but currently-used status;
- for poorly-known species groups, such as lichenized fungi, a general assessment is not currently possible, therefore the list presented here is the regional IUCN Red List for the Galapagos Archipelago.
Distribution
Distribution Comments: Rare. Throughout tropical waters, in the eastern Pacific from off California and Mexico to nothern Chile and Galapagos.
Literature
- Appeltans, W., Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
- Constant, P. (2007) Marine Life of the Galapagos The Diver's guide to Fishes, Whales, Dolphins and marine Invertebrates 1-307pp
- Froese, R., Pauly, D. (eds.) (2010) FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org
- Grove, J.S., Lavenberg, R.J. (1997) The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford California. 862 pp.
- Humann, P., Deloach, N. (2003) Reef Fish Identification - Galapagos. New World Publication, Inc. Florida USA & Libri Mundi, Quito, Ecuador, 226 pp.
- IUCN (2010) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1.
. Downloaded on 26 April 2010. - McCosker, J.E., Rosenblatt, R.H. (2010) The fishes of the Galápagos Archipelago: an update. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., Ser. 4, vol. 61, Suppl. II, no. 11: 167-195.
- Norman, B. (2005) Rhincodon typus www.iucnredlist.org