basking shark

[bas-king, bah-sking]

Huge, sluggish shark (family Cetorhinidae) named for its habit of floating or slowly swimming at the surface. Possibly comprising more than one distinct species, it inhabits northern and temperate regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. It may grow as large as 46 ft (14 m); among fishes, only the whale shark grows larger. Despite its size, the basking shark feeds on plankton. It is gray-brown or blackish, with tiny teeth and very long gill slits. It is generally harmless and is hunted sporadically for fish meal and liver oil.

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The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan species — it is found in all the world's temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder.

Like other large sharks, basking sharks are at risk of extinction due to a combination of low resilience and overfishing to supply the worldwide market for the shark's fins, flesh and organs.



Distribution and habitat

The basking shark is a coastal-pelagic shark found worldwide in boreal to warm-temperate waters around the continental shelves. It prefers waters between 8 and 14° C (46 and 57° F). It is often seen close to land and will enter enclosed bays. The shark will follow concentrations of plankton in the water column and is therefore often visible on the surface. They are a highly migratory species leading to seasonal appearances in certain areas of the range.

Anatomy and appearance

The basking shark is one of the largest known sharks, second only to the whale shark. The largest specimen accurately measured was trapped in a herring net in the Bay of Fundy, Canada in 1851. Its total length was , and it weighed an estimated 19 tons. There are reports from Norway of three basking sharks over 12 m (the largest being 13.7 m), but those are considered dubious since few if any sharks anywhere near such size have been caught in the area since. Normally the basking shark reaches a length of between and a little over . Some specimens surpass 9 or even , but after years of hard fishing, specimens of this size have become exceedingly rare.



In females, only the right ovary appears to be functional: if so, this is a unique characteristic among sharks.




Studies in 2003 have disproved the idea that basking sharks hibernate and have shown that they are active throughout the year. In winter, basking sharks move to deeper water (depths of up to 900 m) feeding on deep water plankton. Satellite tagging confirmed that basking sharks move thousands of kilometres during the winter months locating plankton blooms. It was also found that basking sharks shed and renew their gillrakers in an ongoing process, rather than over one short period.




Even though the basking shark is large and slow it can breach and has been reported jumping fully out of the water. This behaviour could be an attempt to dislodge parasites or commensals.





Importance to humans




Basking sharks and cryptozoology

On several occasions, "globster" corpses initially thought to be sea serpents or plesiosaurs have later been identified as likely to be the decomposing carcasses of basking sharks, as in the Stronsay beast and the Zuiyo Maru cases.

See also


General references

External links

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