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Family Cetorhinidae

Basking Shark

Selected Characters: Gill slits extremely long; gill rakers long and hairlike; many tiny teeth; lateral keel on caudal peduncle.

With a maximum length of 10+ meters, the basking shark is the second largest fish in the world. The single species in this family is found worldwide in temperate and boreal oceans. This shark is a filter feeder, often swimming in large circles with a wide-open mouth, using its long gill slits and well-developed gill rakers to screen out zooplankton. This species is rare in Puget Sound.

Puget Sound Species

Cetorhinus maximus Basking Shark