As filter feeders, whale sharks have more than 300 rows of tiny teeth and 20 filter pads. In total, each whale shark has about 3,000 teeth, each less than a quarter of an inch in size. Interestingly, whale shark teeth are not used for feeding — instead, it's their filter pads that enable them to sieve food out of seawater. Whale sharks are capable of sifting food particles as small as 0.04 inches in size through the gill rakers on their filter pads.