AnimalvsAnimal
Basking Shark🦈

Photo: Public domain

SpeciesLamniformesCetorhinidae
Sharks & rays

🦈Basking shark

Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765)

The basking shark is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sharks reach 7.9 m (26 ft) in length, but large individuals have been known to grow more than 10 m (33 ft) long. It is usually greyish-brown, with mottled skin, with the inside of the mouth being white in colour. The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. Other common names include bone shark, elephant shark, sailfish, and sunfish.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
6
Photos
1
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 35× your weight
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
2,200 kg
Body length
7 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
32 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Basking shark

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
2,200 kgrecord 4,000 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
7 mrecord 15 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

By sex

  • Female9.8 mFishBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
32 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
3.2
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 3.2 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
traumatogenic
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
2,200 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Basking shark yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classElasmobranchii
  4. ›orderLamniformes
  5. ›familyCetorhinidae
  6. ›genusCetorhinus
  7. ›speciesCetorhinus maximus
Full lineage
  1. classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
  2. orderLamniformes
  3. subfamilyCetorhininae
  4. genusCetorhinus
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. classSharks & rays · Chondrichthyes
  7. subclassElasmobranchii
  8. orderLamniformes
  9. subfamilyCetorhininae
  10. genusCetorhinus
More

More about the Basking shark

In other languages
brugde (nb), Riesenhai (de), Requin pèlerin (fr), Cetorhinus maximus (es), Reuzenhaai (nl), 姥鲨 (zh) … and 26 more languages

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