Science 04 Lesson 72

Basking sharks are the second largest fish in the world right after the whale shark. It lives in cool and temperate water and only feeds on plankton I wonder how they get so big? To catch plankton, it keeps its mouth wide open and swims through the water. Once it is done and closes its mouth it lets all the water out, but the plankton stays in. all the plankton gets caught in gill rakers, so it still has a meal. Basking sharks can only swallow anything that is about the size of a grapefruit, so they are not a threat to humans. The teeth they have are super tiny also. They have a dorsal fin like a great white, but it is a lot bigger. So sometimes people on beaches think they is a great white when it’s a basking shark. They are the only species of shark to breach probably to get lampreys off. Basking sharks are also the only species of shark to have lampreys on them.