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Basking Shark Facts & Worksheets

Basking Shark is considered the world's second-largest living fish, next to whale sharks

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The basking shark is considered the world’s second-largest living fish, next to whale sharks. They are characterized by their slow and small swimming movements and are often seen near the water’s surface. They open their huge mouth to filter out their food which is usually zooplanktons. They may look intimidating, but they are quite harmless.

See the fact file below for more information on Basking Shark or alternatively, you can download our 29-page Basking Shark worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

TAXONOMY

  • Basking sharks belong to the kingdom Animalia and phylum Chordates. This giant basking shark is also under the class Chondrichthyes which means that they are considered cartilaginous fishes.
  • The basking shark belongs to the order Lamniformes, which includes other known species of sharks like the great white shark, goblin shark, and megamouth shark. 
  • They are also the only living and surviving members of the family Cetorhinidae. 
  • Their genus is Cetorhinus, and the species is Maximus, which gives rise to their scientific name Cetorhinus maximus. 

ANATOMY

  • The basking shark has a general color of dark gray with some white patches on the underside portion. They can grow up to 11- 13.7 meters long compared to a double-decker bus.
  • Their head has five large gill slits that almost surround their whole head. It has a snout or nose that is conical and round in shape. When they are young, they have longer and more pointed snouts compared to when they are adults. 
  • Their mouth is huge and large with hooked teeth, six rows on the upper jaw and nine rows on the lower jaw. Basking sharks also have a first dorsal fin that can grow up to 2 meters tall, a second dorsal fin, and a tail fin. 
  • In addition, their pectoral fins are very large which helps them with swimming in the water. On the underside portion of basking sharks, we can see claspers in between the pelvic and anal fins. 

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION

  • Basking sharks are seen in the bodies of water near the shore. They are aquatic animals which means that they can live in coastal and oceanic waters with a water depth of 200 to 2000 meters. 
  • They are called basking sharks because they are usually found very near the water’s surface and appear to be like soaking up the warmth of the sun. But in reality, they are just filtering their food. 
  • Basking sharks are usually found in waters that have cooler temperatures. Their environment is generally between 8 degrees Celsius to 14 degrees Celsius. These sharks have been sighted in the oceans of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian.

REPRODUCTION

  • Their breeding usually occurs in the coastal areas during the warmer months of May to July. Basking sharks are known to be ovoviviparous wherein the egg hatches within the mother’s womb and then will develop before being born. 
  • After the gestation period, which lasts for about 2 to 3 years, the live pups are usually born during summer. These pups are commonly 1.5 to 1.7 meters long. 
  • Male basking sharks reach sexual maturity at eight years old when they are 4.6 – 6.1 meters long. Female basking sharks reach sexual maturity at 11.5 years old when they are 8.1 – 9.8 meters long.
  • The basking sharks can live in the wild for roughly 32 years. 

EATING HABITS

  • The primary diets of basking sharks are planktivorous and carnivorous. In addition, their animal foods include aquatic crustaceans, non-insect arthropods, and zooplanktons. They also feed by using filter-feeding as their foraging behavior.
  • Basking sharks commonly feed in areas with a high concentration of zooplankton. They make their mouths wide open while they are swimming slowly to collect water. After collecting enough water into their mouth, the water will be filtered using the gill rakers through their five large gills. 
  • The purpose of this is for the planktons to be filtered out from the water using the gill rakers. Afterward, the water will exit through the gill slits.
  • In addition, basking sharks can filter almost 6,000 L of water per hour. Included in the water are primarily copepods and crustaceans. The water may also consist of fish eggs and larvae, among others.

PREDATION

  • Basking sharks, with their very massive size, have a low number or almost no dominant predators. However, in some instances, there are footages and observations that these basking sharks can be eaten by other sharks larger than their size or even by a starving pod of killer whales who work in a group to feed on their prey. 
  • There were some observed instances that Great White sharks feed on the carcasses of basking sharks, which float to the surface of the ocean or sink at the bottom of the sea floor.
  • In addition to this, basking sharks are being hunted and killed by some humans around the world. Some may be cultural or just as food. This makes humans a major predator of basking sharks and one of the few threats to their species.

HUMAN INTERACTIONS

  • Basking sharks and humans have some unfortunate interactions, including killing the sharks. Some basking sharks are found entangled in the nets of some fishermen. This can pose a risk to the population of the basking sharks.
  • In history, the liver of the basking shark was harvested because it contains large amounts of oil used as a machine lubricant and oil in oil lamps. A single shark can yield 200 to 400 gallons of oil. 
  • In Canadian Pacific, the population of basking sharks declined because of illegal activities of some fishing vessels, where they would put a sharpened ram in front of a ship’s bow. This has been done to impale the basking sharks and eventually kill them. 
  • Fortunately, this activity ceased many years ago, but the population of basking sharks declined heavily until their status in Canadian Pacific has been designated as endangered.

CONSERVATION

  • Under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), basking sharks have now been considered an endangered species because they face a very high risk of extinction in the wild. 
  • This classification of basking sharks encourages people to protect them and refrain from doing illegal activities that could harm their population.
  • Basking sharks are considered a highly migratory species according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). As a result, the United Nations member states were directed to ensure the conservation of basking sharks and employ optimal safety when they are accidentally caught.
  • Another way to conserve basking sharks is by participating in adopting a basking shark program which does not mean you are going to take care of the basking sharks on your own in your respective homes. This program will allow ordinary people to be involved in conserving and taking care of these basking sharks through donations and funds, which can be used in the projects to better the state of these sharks.

Basking Shark Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Basking Shark across 29 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching about the Basking Shark which is considered the world’s second-largest living fish, next to whale sharks.

  • Basking Shark Worksheets
  • Basking Shark Worksheets
  • Basking Shark Worksheets

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  • Basking Shark Facts 
  • What Shark am I? 
  • Basking Sharky Facts
  • Find My Basking Shark!
  • What’s my Food?
  • Label my Parts
  • The Words on the Water
  • Baby Basking Shark
  • Jumbled Sharky Words 
  • Let us be Friends!
  • Save Basking Sharks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do basking sharks bite you?

The primary diets of basking sharks are crustaceans, zooplankton, etc., and are filter-feeders. So even though they can grow to the length of a double-decker bus and have a mouthful of sharp teeth, they are not known to be a danger to humans.

How rare is a basking shark?

These gentle giants and humans have some unfortunate interactions, often with the sharks on the losing end. Some have been accidental, with them getting entangled in fishing nets. Sadly, they have also been deliberately hunted for oil found in their liver. The decline in their population has been so alarming of late that they have been declared endangered in most parts of the world they live in.

How does a basking shark give birth?

Some sharks lay eggs and some give birth to live pups. The basking shark is not one of those that lay eggs. While whale sharks birth many small pups, basking sharks give birth to few, very large pups.

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Link will appear as Basking Shark Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, July 21, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.