🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Filter-feeding sharks like the megamouth, whale shark, and basking shark evolved this strategy independently.
Adult megamouth sharks can exceed 1,200 kilograms in weight, yet their diet consists primarily of plankton, krill, and jellyfish. They swim slowly with mouths agape, filtering enormous volumes of seawater to capture tiny drifting organisms.
💥 Impact (click to read)
The energy equation appears impossible: sustaining over a metric ton of body mass on prey measured in millimeters. Yet by continuously filtering water and targeting dense plankton layers, the megamouth converts microscopic biomass into massive physical scale.
This feeding strategy mirrors the largest animals on Earth, such as baleen whales, revealing a recurring evolutionary pattern. In the open ocean, the path to gigantism often leads not to bigger prey, but to exploiting the smallest life forms in staggering quantities.
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