BASKING SHARK

Cetorhinus maximus

basking shark

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 FL; 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

Canadian Shark Research Laboratory

Henry Mollet's Elasmobranch Research

Current Age and Growth Research

Ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History