While they are normally slow, placid swimmers, they have been reported to jump clear of the water, although no one knows why they do this. The second largest fish in the world, basking sharks can reach lengths of up to 45 feet, although most are 12-25 feet long. The longest measured in the western North Atlantic were 32-35 feet.
Basking sharks feed only on plankton, especially copepods and small crustaceans.
It is analogous to the way skim-feeding whales like right whales acquire their prey. Basking sharks range throughout the ocean, and are also found in some numbers off the coats of the United Kingdom during the summer. In general, they range as far north as the south coast of Iceland and Greenland, and as far south as North Carolina in the west, and the Mediterranean in the east. Although they are found here mainly during summer, it is thought during the winter they may move offshore, where temperatures stay more constant. Offspring are born at 5-7 feet after internal fertilization and development.