Basking shark: Difference between revisions

The Basking shark is a large and slow moving fish.<ref name=fmonh/>. They will grow to be as long as fifty feet and can with in at over 5 tons. <ref name=fmonh/>. Basking sharks are very large and hard extremely rough skin on them <ref name=fmonh/>. The basking shark has four distinct characteristics.  

The first one is their [[heads]] are almost completely circled with large gill slits <ref name=fmonh/>. The second thing that makes them unique is their snout (nose) is large and conical <ref name=fmonh/>. The this thing they are remembered for is their subterminal mouth with has many small hooked [[teeth]] <ref name=fmonh/>. The fourth and final thing that is extra unique to the basking shark is their Caudal fin lunate and the fact it only has a single keel on the caudal peduncle <ref name=fmonh/>.

The life cycle of the Basking shark has very limited information available for their reproductive systems. <ref name=flmnh> Billingsley Knickle.[https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/discover/species-profiles/cetorhinus-maximus Cetorhinus-maximus] "Florida Museum". January 4, 2017. (accessed).</ref> Only one female with an embryo has even been recorded and she was said to have given birth to five live young and one still born. <ref name=flmnh/> They ranged in length from 1.5 thru 2 meters or 4.5-6 feet, the thought is the Basking shark is a [[ovoviviparous]]<ref name=flmnh/>. The gestation period is thought to be three years or greater. While it has also been proposed that the Basking shark uses a method of embryonic nutrition known as oviphagy <ref name=flmnh/>. This is when the embryo feeds on other unfertilized eggs or other embryos within the uterus<ref name=flmnh/>.  

The female is thought to reach sexual maturity between the ages of 12 and  16 years of age<ref name=flmnh/>. While the male has been paired intromittant organs called [[claspers]]. These are located on the inner margin of their pelvic fins <ref name=sharkbio> Aiden, Martin [http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/shark_profiles/cetorhinus.htm Cetorhinus] "Biology of the Basking Shark" Web January 17, 2017. (accessed)</ref> The gestational period is believed to be the longest in any vertebrate lasting up to 3.5 years. <ref name=sharkbio/> Basking shark babies are born at an astounding 5 feet in length. This makes them even longer than some full grown adult sharks. <ref name=sharkbio/>

The Basking Shark lives in the coastal to pelagic in boreal warm-temperatures and insular [[shelves]] <ref name=sharkbio/>. These can be offshore as well as very close to land, sometimes just off the surf and even at the inlets of bays <ref name=sharkbio/>. They are known to live in deeper waters in lower latitudes  with a known range of 0-1870 ft in depth <ref name=sharkbio/>. They are normally seen in surface waters, but are primarily midwater inhabitants<ref name=sharkbio/>. They will surface when the water conditions and food conditions are favorable <ref name=sharkbio/>.

They are seen much more often in cooler temperatures in locations such as of both [[coasts]] of North America<ref name=sharkbio/>. The summer plankton blooms are at moderate to high levels in New Zealand waters doing summer and fall <ref name=sharkbio/>. This encourages sightings near the Cook Straight and Dunedin during summer and fall <ref name=sharkbio/>. They seem to migrate to higher latitudes in the summer and autumn while seeming to disappear during winter months <ref name=sharkbio/>. They seem to fair better in water temperatures in the range od 46-54 degree F. <ref name=sharkbio/>