Basking Shark
Cetorhinus maximus

1/125 s at f5.6, ASA: 400, Kodak Tri-X, Nikonos II w 15 mm


\"Basking Shark.\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second largest living fish, after the whale shark. It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world\'s temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder and has anatomical adaptations to filter feeding, such as a greatly enlarged mouth and highly developed gill rakers. The shape of its snout is conical and the gill slits extend around the top and bottom of its head. The gill rakers are dark and bristle-like and are used to catch plankton as water filters through the mouth and over the gills. The basking shark is usually grayish-brown in colour and often seems to have a mottled appearance. The caudal (tail) fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. The teeth of the basking shark are very small and numerous and often number one hundred per row. The teeth themselves have a single conical cusp, are curved backwards and are the same on both the upper and lower jaws.
Offshore New England
 
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