List of largest fish

Fish vary greatly in size. The extant whale shark and basking shark exceed all other fish by a considerable margin in weight and length. With the extinct Otodus megalodon exceeding all other fish extant and extinct (excluding tetrapods) in size.

Fish in the common usage are a paraphyletic group that describes aquatic vertebrates while excluding the tetrapods, four limbed vertebrates nested within the lobe-finned fish, which include all land vertebrates and their nearest extinct relatives.

This list therefore excludes the various marine reptiles and mammals, such as the extinct ichthyosaur, plesiosaur and mosasaur reptiles (none of which are dinosaurs) and the extant sirenia and cetacea mammals (such as the marine tetrapod blue whale, generally considered to be the largest animal known to have ever lived).

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