BASKING SHARK After the whale shark, the basking shark is the second largest living fish, and can grow up to 32 feet long. They have giant mouths and highly developed gill rakers (or filter-feeders). These sharks are often mistaken for plesiosaurs, a group of long-necked, predatory marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs and are thought to have gone extinct over 65 million years ago. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists these giant sharks as vulnerable ...
