Basking shark

The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest fish, after the whale shark. The basking shark is a cosmopolitan species - it is found in all the world's temperate oceans. It is a slow moving and generally harmless filter feeder.

Like other large sharks, basking sharks are at risk of extinction due to a combination of low resilience and overfishing through increasing demands for the sharks' fins, flesh and organs.

In the UK and Ireland, it can be seen around the St George's Channel coastlines of North Cornwall (particularly around Porthcurno and St Ives), Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay (usually around St Brides Bay, St Davids and New Quay) and South-West Ireland as well as in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is attracted to the St George's Channel coastlines mainly by the food supplies of the Gulf Stream.