Basking Shark Photo-identification

Martin How · Issue 12, Apr/May 2003 · pp. 38–42

38 Basking sharks are the largest animals to frequent the coast of the UK and Ireland, but are also among the most elusive. Their mottled grey hulking forms can regularly be seen cruising close to the shoreline on calm springand summer days as they feed on plankton blooms that form at the water's surface, but until recently almost nothing was known about the way they lived. Over the last three years conservationists at the Shark Trust and the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, Devon, have been putting together a catalogue of photographic images of basking shark dorsal fins in order to help researchers further their understanding of these magnificent creatures. Many of the images contained on the database have been submitted by members of the general public around Europe and the success of the project relies heavily on this kind of participation. Growing up to 12 metres in length the b…