Monday, August 28, 2006

The second largest fish.........

........in the world!!!

I'd imagine for most people being in the water and seeing the scene below would be rather concerning but for me it was the prelude to one of my best nature experiences just a couple of days ago.

basker5



This particular fin is no cause for alarm, it was attached to one of the 12 or so basking sharks we saw. These huge sharks, like the better known whale sharks, are filter feeders and hence in spite of their enormous size are completely harmless. Nonetheless having a 20 foot shark swim straight past you with just about 20 feet of visibility is an intense experience. Unlike the tropical whale shark however the best place to see these bad boys is just off the Cornish coast here in the UK.

basker2



We had good passes from several of the sharks which isn't always the case as in the low visibility they can disappear even though they're swimming relatively close to you. The telltale sign is a huge white patch in the gloom which gives away the inside of their gaping mouth, as the appalling photo below shows:


basker3

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You might want to get out of the way and stop filming... LOL
Fundad