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 Breaching |
 Breaching
Basking Sharks seem so slow and cumbersome, that many people disbelieve that they can breach clear of the water – some of the earliest studies by scientists concluded that the reports they had received from fishermen and shark hunters were in error – how wrong can you be?
This season we have seen 15 breaches, including the one illustrated here. As usual, they have nearly all been when in company with large groups of sharks, and when consistent courtship activity is taking place, which suggests that there may be some form of social or sexual function to this activity, as with the White Shark. It has been suggested in the past that Basking Sharks breach to dislodge external parasites (such as the parasitic lamprey Petromyzon marinus), but this seems to be a remarkable expenditure of energy for such a small reward, so there must be more to it than that.
Breaching occurs without warning, and is hardly graceful – the shark erupts from the water, often rolling in mid air before crashing back in to the water. Sometimes a shark will breach 3 or more times on a 30 second or so basis, whilst other sharks carry on swimming nearby in an unconcerned manner. For this reason it makes sense for any observer on a boat to move away as quickly as possible when sharks start to breach in their vicinity – the only known fatalities involving the Basking Shark occurred in the Firth of Clyde before World War II, when a breaching shark hit a small boat at the surface, capsizing it and drowning 3 of the occupants – you have been warned!
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