Basking Shark
**
Population and Habitat **
With the fact that so little is known of basking shark about population and amount.
The basking shark commonly seen in the Irish Sea and off the south and west coasts of Ireland and Scotland.
**
Physical Characteristics (size, color, appearance) **
The basking shark is the second largest fish in the sea, except only by the whale shark.
The color of the basking shark is depended in weather conditions, sea state, and change when the shark is removed from the water. These include dusk black to brown or blue along the back. The general color as dark gray and brown or blue along the back, becoming lighter on the sides and beneath with the snout a dull reddish.
His dorsal fin approaches 2m, approximately the same length as each of his pectorals and 1m wide mouth.
Have five gill slits on basking shark head and have 20-30cm between each slit. The dorsal ventral separation of the five gill slits which almost around the head of the basking shark is approximately 15cm at the first gill slit and 40cm at the fifth gill slit.
About basking shark the upper jaw having six rows of teeth, three to four being functional and ankylose and having nine rows exist on the lower jaw of which six or seven are functional. Each row contains more than one hundred teeth. The single cusp tooth measuring a vertical height of 5-6mm.
Sharks
of 4-6m are probably most common in British waters, may weigh 4-5 tons.
The largest specimen actually measured was 11.5m other reports suggest
10.5-12m as not uncommon and 12m-15m as the maximum length.
They are oviparous giving birth to live young.
A thick, black, foul smelling mucus supplies the denticles this function is unknown.
** Natural
habits (food, lifestyle, interesting facts) **
That most people wouldn't assume, is that all sharks are omnivorous, which means they eat both meat and vegetation. If there is not an abundent supply of meat in the area, they will resort to eating sea vegetation. A mature, full size female can eat upto five hundred pounds of food a day, or more depending on how long it has been since she last ate.
The sharks move into British coastal waters in April, they leave in Autumn. Some people call them sun fish because of its apparent basking habit.
Sharks are generally long lived (12-17 years) grow slowly and produce small numbers of young (2-50) each year.
**
Why endangered **
The basking shark is still hunted in Norway, the Lofoten Islands, Portugal, California and Scotland.
The most recent reports suggest that they are now killed only for their fins which are sold to the Far East to be used in shark fin soup.
The observations show that of the fact most the ones killed by the hunters approximately 95% are females.