Wild Wednesday – Basking shark
Basking sharks can be found in almost all British coastal waters in the summer months, and more frequent sightings have been reported around southwest England.
They are gentle giants with no teeth, swimming with their 3-foot-wide mouths open allowing them to feed on their diet of plankton, filtering millions of litres of water an hour through its five huge gills . When they are not feeding, their mouths will close.
You could easily fit in its mouth, but it would have no interest in eating you as they are passive sharks and not a danger to humans generally, but as they are so large and their skin is extremely rough, it’s probably not best to swim with them. If you did happen to see one out in the water, give them plenty of space and remember, for everyone you see on the surface, there may be many more feeding below!
The females are pregnant for at least a year, possibly as long as two or three years. The basking shark gives birth only once every 2 to 4 years. How many pups a female basking shark carries is still unknown. They produce eggs which hatch in the womb and while developing they feed on any unfertilized eggs, the female then gives birth to live young.
Some facts:
- a life expectancy of about 50 years
- 12.3 metres long (40 feet), making it the second largest shark in the world. The largest is the whale shark
- They often swim in pairs or large groups of up to 100 others
- Swimming to a depth range from 0 to 1234 metres
Read more here: Basking shark | The Wildlife Trusts
Photo credit Alex Mustard