Basking shark

Basking sharks are one of the largest sharks of the world's temperate oceans. Only the mighty whale shark is bigger. Despite a superficial similarity to the fearsome great white shark and a massive jaw one metre wide, basking sharks are actually harmless filter feeders. They use more than 5,000 gill rakers to strain plankton from around 1.5 million litres of water per hour. Basking sharks are born travellers, covering large distances in search of food, at the very leisurely pace of only three miles per hour. There is only one species of basking shark.

Did you know?
Eight tonne basking sharks can filter a thousand tonnes of sea water every hour for tiny plankton.


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