Happy #WhaleSharkDay! 🦈⁠ ⁠ Can you spot the eye on the side of the whale shark? We at IFAW wear goggles to protect our eyes when open underwater, so how does a whale shark keep its eyes protected?⁠ ⁠ Whale sharks hold the record for the sharks with the biggest tooth count; their mouths are brimming with over 3,000 tiny, pointed teeth. But that doesn’t even count the teeth on their eyeballs! 🤯 These ‘eyeball teeth’ are formally known as denticles. As you can see, whale sharks’ eyes have no eyelids and poke out on either side of their heads, which makes them vulnerable to exposure. Since the eye surface is less protected, the covering of the eye surface with denticles helps to reduce the risk of eye damage!⁠ ⁠ Photo: © Vanessa Mignon