Basking shark

BASKING SHARK

Cetorhinus maximus

SIZE

To about 32 ft (9.8 m).

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

Head nearly encircled with enormous gill slits; bristlelike gill rakers inside gill slits

Color grayish-brown to slate gray above, often with lighter, irregular mottled patches; paler below

Snout bulbous, conical

Mouth large, subterminal; teeth minute and hooked

Caudal fin lunate with single keel on caudal peduncle

DISTRIBUTION

Newfoundland, Canada, to Florida; usually mid-Atlantic in spring; New England, Gulf of Maine, and Canada in summer.

HABITAT

Coastal and offshore; sometimes enters inshore bays.

SIMILAR SPECIES

White shark has dorsal surface that appears uniformly colored in the water, triangular teeth with serrated edges; lacks gill slits nearly encircling head.