Cetorhinus maximus

The Latin name of the basking shark is Cetorhinus maximus, and its foreign name is Basking Shark. There are no subspecies.

The basking shark was first described by Gunnerus in 1765 from a specimen in Norway and was originally named Squalus maximus; in the same year, it was changed to the recognized scientific name Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765). The genus name Cetorhinus comes from the Greek, "ketos" (meaning marine life, whale) and "rhinos" (nose), while the species name maximus is Latin, meaning "huge".

Basking sharks usually swim slowly on the water surface in groups of 1-3 or up to 100, with their dorsal fins exposed above the water or turning over to expose their bellies. They are filter feeders, feeding on planktonic invertebrates, small fish or fish eggs. They have seasonal migratory habits. From March to April every year, they migrate from the open sea to the coast in groups, and usually lie still on the sea surface, or swim slowly with their mouths open, or turn over to expose their bellies. If it is foggy, they often "doze" on the sea surface. This population of basking sharks living in the eastern North Pacific is considered a single population that migrates seasonally along the waters from Canada to central California.

The basking shark is very gentle in nature, so it is called the "basking" shark. It mainly feeds on planktonic invertebrates and small fish. Its hunting method is very peculiar. It first opens its big mouth to "swallow" the bait and water, and then uses slender keratin gill rakers to "sieve" and filter. Imagine such a huge creature. To fill its stomach, it has to filter a lot of seawater every day. In order to adapt to this kind of life, the basking shark has also "modified" some of its organs. For example, its gill rakers have become thin and long, and densely packed, so that some small fish and shrimps cannot slip away, so as to increase the catch. Secondly, in order to speed up drainage, the gill slits on both sides of its head extend to the dorsal and ventral sides, so that water can enter and drain out, and the bait can be retained.

The basking shark may be ovoviviparous. The embryo feeds on unfertilized eggs or other embryos in the uterus. Females are estimated to reach sexual maturity between 12-16 years of age. Gestation period is 12-36 months, with a possible rest period of two years between births. Maximum lifespan is 50 years.

The first basking shark stamp was issued in Lebanon in 1968; a basking shark miniature sheet was issued in Guernsey in 2005.

Before the basking sharks disappeared in winter, scientists installed satellite trackers on 25 basking sharks in the New England waters and found that they usually swam 200-600 meters below the sea surface. Some of them swam to Florida in the United States, while others continued to swim south, even swimming thousands of kilometers and appearing in the Caribbean Sea. One of the basking sharks was even more surprising. It actually crossed the equator and reached the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil.

Interestingly, many stories of sea serpents and monsters originate from sightings of basking sharks near the surface (the snouts and tails of basking sharks swimming in a line). In addition, commercial fishing gear has carried the decaying remains of basking shark carcasses to the surface, sometimes washing up on shore. Because the skull of a basking shark is relatively small compared to its body length, it seems difficult for many to believe that these carcasses are from basking sharks and not some unknown beast.

Wild populations of basking sharks face a high risk of extinction in the near future. Therefore, they are a species of urgent conservation concern. It was not until the 1950s that sharks were no longer targeted by commercial fisheries in California, after being killed for their meat and oil. Canadian fishermen stopped hunting basking sharks in the 1970s, thanks to a program designed to reduce the negative effects of interactions between sharks and salmon nets. The global population of basking sharks has declined by 80 percent since 1950-1993. Although there is no commercial fishing pressure on the species, scientists are concerned about the survival of the basking shark population, which has not rebounded. In the past, hundreds or even thousands of basking sharks were seen gathering together, but since 1993, no one has seen more than three basking sharks, and the species has rarely been seen in U.S. and Canadian waters. Fishermen often catch basking sharks while hunting other fish, or they get entangled in fishing gear or are injured by boat machinery when they come to the surface to feed. However, since the fins of basking sharks can still be sold at a high price, hunting is still allowed in some countries and regions, and the bloody scenes of cutting the body of basking sharks and removing the fins are still common.

Due to the serious decline in the number of basking sharks, many countries around the world are taking protective actions and restricting the trade of their related products. The US federal Pacific Ocean Management Act clearly stipulates that sharks must be returned to the sea immediately after being caught by mistake. California also strictly prohibits the appearance of basking sharks in the catch. In Canada, the endangered species protection action stipulates that it is illegal to possess, disturb, or destroy the habitat of basking sharks.

Listed in the "World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species" (IUCN) 2018 ver 3.1-Endangered (EN).

Listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2002 - Appendix II.

Listed in the Barcelona Convention in 1995 - Endangered (EN).  

Listed in the Berne Convention for the Conservation of Wildlife and Habitats in Europe - Appendix II.  

Listed in the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in 2005 - Appendix I and Appendix II.  

In November 2000, the American Fisheries Society (AFS) listed the population of the western Atlantic basking shark as conservation-dependent (declining under ongoing conservation programs, but stabilized or recovering) and vulnerable in the eastern Pacific.

Listed in the second level of the "List of National Key Protected Wildlife in China".

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Distributed in the northwest Pacific Ocean, the southern waters of Australia, the coastal waters of North America and South America in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the northwest, northern and northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Iceland and Norway. In China, it is distributed in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the northeastern waters of Taiwan.
Basking sharks live in the continental shelf and island shelf waters of the open sea, but often appear on the shore, the outer intertidal zone, or the inner bay. Most commonly found in mild coastal waters.

The body length is generally 7-8 meters, and the largest can reach 15 meters. The body is fusiform, the thickest in the middle, and gradually narrower in the front and back. There are lateral processes on each side of the caudal peduncle, starting from above the base of the anal fin and reaching behind the base of the caudal fin; there is a depression above and below the base of the caudal fin. The head is large and slightly flattened. The snout is very short and conical. The eyes are small, round, without nictitating membranes, and located above the front of the mouth. The nostrils are small, horizontal, close to the side of the snout, closer to the mouth than to the tip of the snout; the front nasal valve is round and prominent. The mouth is very wide and widely arc-shaped; the lower lip fold is short, and the upper lip fold is not developed. The teeth are very small and numerous, shield-shaped, with smooth edges, the tooth heads facing backwards, no lateral tooth heads, 4-7 rows in