20 GIANT FISHES 



BASKING SHARK. 



(Genus Cetorhinus.) Fig. 14. 



The snout is bluntly pointed and overhangs the mouth ; it is 

 especially prolonged in young individuals. The mouth is 

 large, with numerous, very small, conical teeth, set in several 

 rows in both jaws. The spiracles are small and situated behind 

 the eyes. The external gill-clefts are very large, extending 

 nearly right round the neck, and the gill-arches in the walls of 

 the gullet are provided with long, slender, comb-like rakers. 

 The colour is bluish-grey, greyish-brown, or sometimes nearly 

 black on the back, generally becoming paler on the lower 

 parts. 



Grows to a length of 40 feet or more. 



The single species (C. maximus) is found in the temperate 

 seas of both hemispheres, and is especially common in the 

 North Atlantic. 



This relatively enormous shark is easily the largest to be 

 found in temperate waters, and is exceeded in size only by the 

 Whale Shark of tropical seas. It is a sluggish and quite 

 inoffensive creature, which derives its name from the habit 

 of lying motionless at the surface of the sea, as if basking in 

 the sun. The inhabitants of Wales and the west coast of 

 Ireland know it as the " Sun-fish " for the same reason, but 

 this name is more properly used for a totally different fish 

 (Mold) with similar habits (see p. 183). When " basking " it is 

 generally to be seen with the dorsal fin and sometimes part of 

 the back above the surface, but at times it will lie on its side 

 or even belly uppermost. Sometimes solitary in its habits, 

 sometimes swimming about in twos or threes, at certain times, 

 probably during the breeding season, the Basking Shark may 

 be observed in shoals of 60 to 100 individuals. Its seasonal 

 movements are as yet imperfectly understood, but there 

 appears to be a regular annual migration along the west coast 

 of Ireland to the western isles of Scotland, and thence north- 

 wards, the sharks approaching Ireland during the spring and 

 reaching Norway during August. 



