Basking Shark Shark Bites

My name's Steve Backshall.

Self-confessed shark-obsessed.

This is Shark Bites.

Meet our very own gentle giant.

The basking shark.

A vast and mysterious shark

that visits UK waters every spring and summer.

Reaching lengths of over ten metres and weighing as much as two cars,

this is the second largest fish in the world,

after the colossal whale shark.

But what brings such a sizable shark to the United Kingdom?

Frequently spotted off our coastal shores, basking sharks are often

mistaken for great whites because of their body shape and sheer size.

But beneath the surface, they couldn't be more different.

The basking shark might be as long as a bus,

but it's one of the calmest sharks in our seas.

Cruising at around three and a half kilometres per hour,

they move slowly and gracefully through the water

by moving their entire bodies from side to side...

..their huge, paddle-like pectoral fins steering this ginormous

creature through our oceans.

But their most defining feature is, without doubt...

..their mega mouth...

..which they use to engulf their prey...

..plankton.

Microscopic plants and animals that are always floating in the water,

but in our warmer months are here in abundance.

And that's exactly why the basking sharks visit.

In order to extract these tiny organisms,

the basking shark's able to use its mega mouth to

filter 1,000 tonnes of water every single hour.

As the shark swims along,

water passes into its mouth

and then out through the gill slits

which almost entirely encircle the head.

But before the water exits through the gills,

it heads through these gill rakers,

which separate out the plankton.

As the water's expelled,

the shark swallows vast quantities

of plankton down into its stomach.

It's mind-blowing to think that these microscopic plants

and animals are enough to satisfy their astronomic appetites.

But the basking shark is one of our very own wonders of nature.

The basking shark.

A serene shark

with a seriously surprising diet

and a mightily mega mouth,

make this the gentle giant of our seas.