Basking, Common Thresher Sharks 235 



Basking Shark 

 Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus) 



Color: Brown-gray, medium gray, or nearly black on upper 

 surface of body. Undersurface may be same color as 

 upper surface, a lighter shade, or almost white. 

 Distribution: World-wide in northern and temperate waters. 

 Recorded in the western Atlantic from Newfoundland to 

 the Falkland Islands, but nowhere abundant. 

 Size: Reported to reach a length of 50 feet. Recorded as 

 weighing 8,600 pounds at 30 feet. Immature fish under 13 

 feet have a long-drawn-out snout which gives them an 

 entirely different appearance from the adult. 

 General Information: A sluggish, harmless shark often 

 found swimming slowly at the surface with its mouth 

 open to collect the plankton in the water, its chief source 

 of food. The plankton is carried into the open mouth with 

 the water and sifted by fine comb-like gill rakers from the 

 water as it passes over the gills and out of the gill slits. 

 Economic Importance: Now of little importance on the 

 western Atlantic coast. Formerly, when animal oils were 

 used for lighting, the liver oil was extracted for fuel for 

 lamps. 



Common Thresher Shark 

 Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre) 



