information:highlighting
Human culture

In Madagascar, whale sharks are called marokintana in Malagasy, meaning "many stars", after the appearance of the markings on the shark's back.

In the Philippines, it is called butanding and balilan. The whale shark is featured on the reverse of the Philippine 100-peso bill. By law snorkelers must maintain a distance of 4 ft (1.2 m) from the sharks and there is a fine and possible prison sentence for anyone who touches the animals.

Whale sharks are also known as jinbei-zame in Japan (because the markings resemble patterns typically seen on jinbei); gurano bintang (roughly "star from the East") in Indonesia; and ca ong (literally "sir fish") in Vietnam.

The whale shark is also featured on the latest 2015–2017 edition of the Maldivian 1000 rufiyaa banknote, along with the green turtle.