Raymond Vilbikaitis, age 13 of St: Catharines, Ont., for his question:

Which is the largest true fish?

The largest animal in the sea, in the whole world for that matter, is the blue baleen whale. But this whopper is not a true fish. The largest true fish is a shark called the whale shark. The largest of these big fish may be sixty feet. long, though no one has ever actually measured one longer than 45 feet. It is estimated that a shark of this size could weigh 15 tons or more.

In character, the whale shark does not resemble some of his sharky relatives. He is no man eater. In fact, he feeds on some of the smallest creatures that live in the sea. He swims into a school of little fish with his big mouth wide open. He swallows the fish that get caught in his mouth and forces the surplus sea water out through his gills. Though a native of tropical seas, the big whale shark sometimes strays into cooler waters.