Approximately how many teeth does a whale shark have? About 3,000. These tiny, vestigial teeth are arranged in more than 300 rows inside the whale shark’s enormous mouth.
Despite possessing thousands of teeth, the whale shark does not use them to bite or chew. It is a filter feeder, drawing water through specialized filter pads that trap plankton, fish eggs, krill, jellyfish and small fish. The teeth play little or no role in feeding.
The whale shark is the largest living fish, and its mouth can measure more than 1.5 metres across in a very large individual. That huge mouth can make the animal look intimidating, but whale sharks are generally gentle and non-predatory toward people.
A common mix-up is confusing teeth with filter structures: the whale shark has about 3,000 tiny teeth, but its feeding system depends mainly on filter pads and gill structures. Its closest visual comparison is often the basking shark, another giant filter-feeding shark.