Basking Shark

basking shark, (Cetorhinus maximus), huge, slow-swimming shark of the family Cetorhinidae. Named for its habit of floating or slowly swimming at the surface, the basking shark is found predominantly in coastal areas in temperate regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is one of the largest living fishes, second only to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) in size.

Follow underwater cameraman Florian Graner and marine biologist Natali Tesche-Ricciardi studying basking sharks in the depths of the North SeaSee all videos for this article

The basking shark is a giant, with most individuals growing as long as 11 metres (36 feet) and weighing as much as 3.9 metric tons (4.3 tons); so large are these creatures that basking shark carcasses that wash up on beaches are sometimes mistaken for mythical sea serpents. Unconfirmed reports claim that even larger specimens exist. It is a gray-brown or blackish shark, with tiny teeth and very long gill slits. It feeds by opening its mouth wide to sift copepods and other zooplankton from the ocean, passing an average of 6,000 litres (nearly 2,000 gallons) of water through its gills per hour. Basking sharks migrate across whole ocean basins in search of plankton sources, whose populations swell during the summer in each hemisphere.

Little is known about the basking shark’s reproductive cycle, but scientists speculate that gestation takes as long as 3.5 years. Some scientists use growth rings on the sharks vertebrae to estimate age, which suggests that the basking shark’s lifespan may last 30 years or more; however, others note that the accumulation of rings may be the result of growth episodes, which may not be related to aging.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources classifies the basking shark as an endangered species because of harvesting pressure from the commercial fishing industry and its slow reproductive cycle. Historically, the species was valued for its meat and body parts. In the present-day, intentional fishing of basking sharks has largely ceased, and the species enjoys some level of protection from North American and European governments. However, basking sharks are taken as bycatch in fishing nets, and some countries still hunt basking sharks for their liver oil, which is used as a source of Vitamin A and as an aphrodisiac and in cosmetics, and their fins, which are used in shark fin soup.