Bicheno fisherman Rodney Brill recently saw a Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) off the east coast of Tasmania (see the sighting here).  Rodney sent this video footage to Redmap of the 6m basking shark feeding next to his boat.  Although widely distributed, and within its known distribution, this Redmap observation is quite rare as basking sharks usually live in much deeper waters, well away from the continental shelf.

Despite their common name, this species is the world’s second largest fish (growing up to 15m in length). They are known to “bask” on the ocean surface in good weather and feed on zooplankton at the surface.

These animals are listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Redlist and are protected from fishing in many areas. Last year a 7m basking shark was also spotted in Victoria and submitted to Redmap (here).  And yet another basking shark was accidently caught by commercial fishers in Victorian waters recently and donated to Museum Victoria, attracting much media attention.

 IMAGERY provided by Redmap volunteer Rodney Brill.

References and further reading on basking sharks:

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4292/0

http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1847

http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/media-centre/media-releases/basking-shark-caught-off-portland/

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/90

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/museum-thrilled-as-rare-basking-shark-is-added-to-its-collection-20150623-ghv68d.html

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/rare-basking-shark-with-a-head-for-science-becomes-model-specimen-20150705-gi5ge6.html

http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=193