Basking Shark
Cetorhinus maximus
- Endangered
- Card rarity: Epic
- Sharks and rays
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.
Classification
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Lamniformes
- Family
- Cetorhinidae
- Genus
- Cetorhinus