Basking Shark: World’s Second-Largest Species Spotted Off Coast Of Portugal

A Basking Shark, the second largest species of shark in the world, was recently spotted in the waters in the vicinity of ​​the Viana do Castelo offshore wind farm in the Norte Region of Portugal.

The announcement was made this Sunday, July 16, by the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM). It stated that these creatures can ‘reach close to 10 metres in length, and were sighted on the national Atlantic coast’.

‘It is huge, but not dangerous, feeding on krill, plankton and fish eggs. Opening its huge mouth, it sucks in water and retains food, being able to filter more than two thousand tons of water per hour’, detailed the entity, according to cmjornal.pt.

Basking sharks can be enormous but are totally harmless to humans

This species of shark (Cetorhinus maximus) although growing to frightening sizes, are one of three that survive on plankton. The other two are the whale shark and the megamouth shark.

They are normally greyish-brown in colour with mottled skin. The insides of their very large mouths are white. It is easily defined by its caudal fin which has a strong lateral keel which is crescent-shaped.

Basking sharks are often called by other names, including, sunfish, sailfish, elephant shark, and bone shark. They are known to not be aggressive and are totally harmless to humans.

They feed from the surface of the water

These mammals are found in all of the world’s temperate oceans as they are a cosmopolitan migratory species. They are filter feeders, which means they feed from the water’s surface.

This gives rise to their ‘basking’ name as they appear to be resting there in the warm water while actually feeding. Its anatomical features including the enlarged mouth have clearly evolved to allow this form of feeding to take place.

A basking shark also has highly developed gill rakers which are used to separate the plankton from the water as it passes through these gills. Reflecting their relatively passive behaviour, they possess the smallest weight-for-weight brain size of any shark.