Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia

Dieren en planten

Fish   Sharks   Greenland shark   Basking shark   Tope   Fish biology   Reproduction of fish   Nurseries   Marine fauna   Animal plankton   

Basking shark

size:

up to 15 meters

weight:

up to 6000 kilograms

color:

gray-brown to black with light sides and dirty white belly

age:

20 to 100 years

food:

plankton (microscopically small organisms)

enemies:

man

reproduction:

live birth (ovoviviparity)
maturity: from 12-16 years
number: 1-6 young per nest

  • Dut: Reuzehaai (apikal, apikau, grote haai, paardenhaai)
  • Lat: Cetorhinus maximus
  • Eng: Basking shark
  • Ger: Riesenhai
  • Dan: Brugde
print print
Basking shark, Chris Gotschalk

Basking shark

Basking sharks are seen incidentally in the North Sea. It is a shark found all over the world in non-tropical food-rich coastal waters. Although they can grow to a maximum of fifteen meters long, specimen longer than ten meters are rare. Basking sharks can weigh up to 4000 kilogram. Basking shark are harmless, toothless plankton eaters, with a preference for the copepod Calanus. The basking shark is recognizable by the rounded form of its triangular dorsal fin.

  • Characteristics

    The basking shark swims with a speed of three to five kilometers per hour through the water and filters plankton out of the water with it gill rakers. The basking shark loses its gill raker in the winter when there is little plankton around. The raker develops again in the spring and the shark can eat again.
    It is unclear where the basking shark gets it energy in the winter. Some scientists think that during this season, the shark uses as little energy as possible and lives off of its reserves in its liver. Other scientists think that it switches over to benthic animals.
    The basking shark needs good floating ability in order to filter plankton, but just like other sharks, it has no swimming bladder. The solution for this problem is an extremely large liver, containing a lot of fatty material (squaline). Squaline is used in the fine technique, cosmetics and medicine. A landed basking shark therefore is worth a lot for the fisherman, also because the meat is suitable for consumption or fishmeal. However, only the liver and the fins are usually removed and the rest is thrown into the sea.

  • Beaching and reports in the Netherlands
    Date Place and details
    June 1992 report by Camperduin beach, length estimated at 4 meters
    October 1994 caught by GO 31, weight: 450 kilo
    October 1995 caught by UK 382, weight: 310 kilo (around 3.5 meter slong)
    October 1995 caught by (Scottish) PD 63 on the Klaverbank,weight: 250 kilo (3.75 meters long)
    November 1996 caught by SL 14 near the Klaverbank, weight: 210 kilo (around 4 meters long)
    31 October 1997 report by the weekly magazine 'Visserijnieuws'; catch of a young shark of 325 kilo, landed by the VLI 27. Based upon the weight, it was probably a young porbeagle.
    4 December 1997 caught by TX 49, weight: 600 kilo (more than 5 meters lang)
    December 2004 washed ashore near Petten, 3.65 meters long and 250 kilo. Probably killed by a blow from a ship propellor.
    From various sources
  • Distribution of the basking shark
    Distribution of the basking shark, Ecomare

    The major distribution area of the basking shark in the Atlantic Ocean lies south of Iceland. Many of these sharks are spotted in the summer around the Orkney Islands, during their migration to the northern North Sea and then to the Norwegian coast. They swim the same route back in the autumn, whereby some of them migrate longer along the eastern North Sea coast and end up by the Dutch coast.

  • Confusion with herring sharks

    Every once in awhile, there is a report of a herring shark catch, or a 'nose shark', which turns out to be a basking shark.
    Basking sharks are caught more often than herring sharks. The difference is easy to see: herring sharks have a mouth full of teeth, basking sharks are toothless. In addition, the dorsal fin of the basking shark is far behind the pectoral fin, while the that of the herring shark is more or less above the pectoral fins.

  • Jaws

    The basking shark is the second largest species of shark: only the whale shark is larger (also a plankton-feeder) is larger. It never attacks people and is a popular playmate with experienced divers. The only danger involved is the unexpected powerful movements and its rough skin.
    The basking shark is the cause of the 'Jaws' legends about human-eating sharks of more than ten meters long. For the inexperienced eye, it resembles the white shark and the mako, which are dangerous shark species but grow no longer than six meters.