Species: Cetorhinus maximus, Basking shark
Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765)
Basking shark
A stout body, pointed snout and enormous mouth; many very small, blunt teeth with a single point; 5 very long gill slits that almost meet at the top and bottom of the head, all before the pectoral fins; gill rakers long and hair like; two dorsal fins, the first much larger and situated midway between the pectorals and pelvics; 2nd dorsal and anal fins small; tail fin nearly symmetrical, concave; tail base very depressed, with a large keel on each side.
Back blackish to grey-brown or blue-grey; belly a little paler.
Size: 1000 cm.
Habitat: near shore pelagic.
Depth: 0-1264 m.
Circumglobal, temperate; in the four corners of the Atlantic, occasionally off Florida & the Gulf of Mexico, south to the Caribbean and Brazil.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Offshore
- Offshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Near Surface
- Surface
- Water column only
- Mid Water
- Habitat
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- Water column
- FishBase Habitat
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- Pelagic
- Feeding Group
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- Planktivore
- Data
- Diet
-
- Pelagic fish larvae
- Pelagic fish eggs
- Data
- Zooplankton
- Egg Type
-
- Live birth
- Data
- No pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- Circumtropical ( Indian + Pacific + Atlantic Oceans)
- All species.
- Regional Endemism
-
- GC non-endemic
- All species..
- Also in Brazil
- Continent
- Extends North of GC
- Continent only
- Extends South of GC
- Extends N + S of GC
- Residency
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- Vagrant
- Climate Zone
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- Temperate (>35N)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
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- Endangered
- Listed
- CITES
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- Appendix II
- Listed
- Length Max
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- 1000
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 1264
