| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANIMALIA | CHORDATA | CHONDRICHTHYES | LAMNIFORMES | CETORHINIDAE |
| Scientific Name: | Cetorhinus maximus | |||||||||
| Species Authority: | (Gunnerus, 1765) | |||||||||
| Infra-specific Taxa Assessed: |
See Cetorhinus maximus (North Pacific subpopulation)
See Cetorhinus maximus (Northeast Atlantic subpopulation)
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Common Name/s:
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| Red List Category & Criteria: | Vulnerable A1ad+2d ver 2.3 | |||||||||
| Year Assessed: | 2000 | |||||||||
| Assessor/s | Fowler, S.L. | |||||||||
| Evaluator/s: | Musick, J.A. & Fowler, S. (Shark Red List Authority) | |||||||||
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Justification: A very large filter-feeding cold-water pelagic species, widely distributed but only regularly seen in a few favoured coastal locations and probably never very abundant. Documented fisheries in several regions have usually been characterised by rapidly declining local populations as a result of short-term fisheries exploitation, followed by very slow or no recorded population recovery. There is likely potential for similar population declines to occur in the future from directed and bycatch fisheries, driven at least in part by the demand for fins in international trade. Basking sharks are now legally protected in some territorial waters. Compagno (1984) considers the basking shark "to be extremely vulnerable to overfishing, perhaps more so than most sharks ... ascribed to its slow growth rate, lengthy maturation time, long gestation period, probably low fecundity and probable small size of existing populations (belied by the immense size of individuals in their small schools)." |
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| History: |
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| Countries: |
Native:
Albania; Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Belgium; Brazil; Canada (British Columbia, Newfoundland); Cape Verde; Chile; China; Cuba; Denmark; Ecuador; Falkland Islands (Malvinas); Faroe Islands; France; Germany; Gibraltar; Guernsey; Iceland; Ireland; Isle of Man; Italy; Japan; Jersey; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Malta; Mexico; Monaco; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Peru; Portugal (Madeira); Russian Federation; Senegal; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain (Canary Is.); Sweden; Taiwan, Province of China; Tunisia; Turkey; United Kingdom (Great Britain, Northern Ireland); United States (Alaska); Uruguay; Western Sahara
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| FAO Marine Fishing Areas: |
Native:
Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – southwest; Atlantic – northeast; Atlantic – northwest; Indian Ocean – eastern; Mediterranean and Black Sea; Pacific – southeast; Pacific – northeast; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – southwest; Pacific – eastern central
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| Population Trend: |
Unknown
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| Habitat and Ecology: | A coastal-pelagic shark found in boreal to warm temperate waters of the continental and insular shelves. The species occurs well offshore and often very close to land, just off the surf zone. It is also known to enter enclosed bays. This conspicuous shark is often seen at or near the surface, basking with dorsal fins out of the water or with bellies upward, or moving slowly forwards or in short arcs with their mouths open like hoops while feeding. The basking shark is a filter-feeding species, relying on the passive flow of water through its pharynx generated by swimming for filtration. The species feeds exclusively on small planktonic organisms. Food items include small copepods, barnacle and decapod larvae, and fish eggs. On the average a half ton of material may be present in the stomach of these sharks (Compagno 1984). |
| Systems: | Marine |
| Major Threat(s): | The basking shark is extremely vulnerable to overfishing, as a result of its slow growth rate, lengthy maturation time, long gestation period, probably low fecundity, and probable small size of existing populations (Compagno 1984). The species has been the object of harpoon fisheries from small boats in many parts of its range. During the last century they were also harpooned by whaling vessels. The basking shark has also been taken in nets, including bottom gillnets and even bottom and pelagic trawls, and formerly was a problem to salmon gillnetters in the Pacific northwest of North America by fouling gillnets. The meat is used for human consumption fresh or dried salted; its fins are used for shark-fin soup; its liver, rich in oil and very large, is extracted for its high squalene content but the liver oil was formerly used for tanning leather for lamp oil; the hide is processed for leather and the carcass is rendered for fishmeal (Compagno 1984). |
| Conservation Actions: | Basking sharks are now legally protected in some territorial waters. |
| Citation: | Fowler, S.L. 2000. Cetorhinus maximus. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 03 December 2008. |
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