Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximusrinus

The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the world’s second largest fish, filtering enormous volumes of zooplankton through its cavernous mouth as it cruises slowly at the surface. In British waters it is most commonly recorded off the west coast of Scotland and Ireland, where plankton productivity is high. Sightings in the southern North Sea – including off the Suffolk coast – are uncommon but periodically reported, typically during summer months when plankton blooms draw the species into inshore waters. Any Suffolk sighting is of interest and should be submitted to the Shark Trust’s recording scheme, which monitors basking shark distribution around the British Isles. Image: © Green Fire Productions, iNaturalist.

Find out more: Suffolk Wildlife Trust, iNaturalist, Marine Life Information Centre