---
title: "Basking Shark"
description: "Cetorhinus maximus — Fish. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/basking-shark
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Basking Shark

> Cetorhinus maximus — Fish. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark.

- Scientific name: *Cetorhinus maximus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 517
- Wikidata: [Q185260](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q185260)
- iNaturalist taxon: [82128](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/82128)

## Names

- en: Basking Shark
- de: Riesenhai
- es: Tiburón peregrino
- fr: Requin pèlerin
- nl: Reuzenhaai
- pl: Długoszpar

## Countries with the most observations

US (77), GB (61), IE (41), CA (40), IM (8), IT (8), IS (7), ES (6), FR (6), CL (4), GR (4), AL (3)

## Summary

The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sharks reach 7.9 m (26 ft) in length, but large individuals have been known to grow more than 10 m (33 ft) long. It is usually greyish-brown, with mottled skin, with the inside of the mouth being white in colour. The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. Other common names include bone shark, elephant shark, sailfish, and sunfish.
The basking shark is a cosmopolitan migratory…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark

## Photo

![Basking Shark](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/basking-shark/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jason Thompson · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/318358169

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/basking-shark?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).