Rarely observed circling behaviours of endangered basking sharks have now been explained as ‘shark speed dating’ courtship displays. Marine biologists from the Marine Biological Association (MBA), the Irish Basking Shark Group and colleagues have led ground-breaking research which reveals the circles of basking sharks seen off western Ireland are engaged in annual reproductive behaviour, the first place in the world […]
Largest aggregation sighted had 1,400 animals Ten large aggregations of basking sharks were identified between June 1980 and November 2013, ranging from 36 to at least 1,398 animals within an 11.5-mile (18.5-kilometer) radius of the central point in the aggregation. Data on breaching, circular swimming movements, and/or apparent feeding behaviour were recorded in seven of […]
A proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA) off Scotland’s west coast would help basking sharks, researchers say. Scientists from the University of Exeter and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) satellite tracked 36 basking sharks in summer months of 2012-2014 and found 86% showed “some degree of residency” in the proposed Sea of the Hebrides MPA. Sharks also returned year […]
It is the first 30 seconds of this video filmed by drone that is really interesting. Gavin Maxwell was among the first to describe ‘shoals’ of hundreds of basking sharks layers deep in the sea and as far as the eye could see. How these giants interact in these shoals in still an interesting area […]
Whilst the breakthroughs in satellite tracking have given us a much clearer understanding of basking shark movements and feeding behaviour understanding the size of the European – Atlantic basking shark population remains a huge challenge. This is an interesting paper because it uses mark – recapture approaches to assess the size of basking shark populations. […]