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On the web since 1993
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.
MORE INFORMATION
Text descriptions taken from:
Guide to Sharks, Tunas, & Billfishes
of the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico
