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‘Gentle giant’ basking sharks jump as high and fast as great whites

Lottie Casas September 20, 2018

‘Gentle giant’ basking sharks known for swimming with their huge mouths gaping can jump out of the water as high and fast as great whites

  • Researchers captured phenomenon on video off the coast of Malin Head, Ireland
  • The stunning footage showed they could reach speeds of about 5 meters/sec
  • They were also able to hit a peak height of 1.5 meters above surface of the water 
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While they might be intimidating to look at, basking sharks are well known to be gentle giants that spend much of their time sluggishly scouring the ocean for small prey.

But, it appears they’ve been hiding some pretty impressive skills all along.

In an astonishing discovery, scientists have captured footage of basking sharks breaching just like great white sharks – and in doing so, the lumbering creatures can hit speeds faster than even an Olympic swimmer.

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Researchers from Trinity College Dublin managed to capture the incredible phenomenon on video off the coast of Malin Head, Ireland, and use the footage to estimate their vertical swimming speeds at the moment they left the water

‘The impressive turn of speed that we found basking sharks exhibit shows how much we are yet to learn about marine animals – even the largest, most conspicuous species have surprises in store, if we’re willing to look,’ says co-author Dr Nick Payne, Assistant Professor in Zoology at Trinity College Dublin.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin managed to capture the incredible phenomenon on video off the coast of Malin Head, Ireland, and use the footage to estimate their vertical swimming speeds at the moment they left the water.

They also attached a data recording device to one of the sharks to measure its speed and movement first-hand.

And, the data show they have incredible abilities.

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In an astonishing discovery, scientists have captured footage of basking sharks breaching just like great white sharks – and in doing so, the lumbering creatures can hit speeds faster than even an Olympic swimmer

In one breach event, the shark accelerated from a depth of 28 meters to the surface in just nine seconds, and with just 10 beats of its tail.

When it broke through the surface, it hit an angle of nearly 90 degrees and reached a peak height of 1.2 meters above the water.

The shark hit a top speed of about 5.1 meters per second in the whole process, achieving a six-fold increase in tail-beat frequency, the researchers say.

This is more than twice as fast as the average competitor in the men’s Olympic 50 meter freestyle swim.

The videos show the basking sharks can hit speeds and heights matching those achieved by great white sharks.


While they might be intimidating to look at, basking sharks are well known to be gentle giants that spend much of their time sluggishly scouring the ocean for small prey. File photo

WHAT ARE BASKING SHARKS?


Basking sharks are the second-largest fish alive after whale sharks. 

While they typically grow to 20-26 feet long, they’ve been known to hit staggering lengths of up to 32 feet.

But, these giants are relatively harmless to humans. According to the NOAA, they ‘are considered passive and no danger to humans other than that posed by their large size and rough skin.’

They feed on zooplankton, swimming slowly just beneath the surface with their mouths open in a terrifyingly wide gape to filter the tiny organisms from seawater.

‘This finding does not mean that basking sharks are secretly fierce predators tearing round at high speed; they are still gentle giants munching away happily on zooplankton,’ said Dr Jonathan Houghton, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology at Queen’s University Belfast.

‘It simply shows there is far more to these sharks than the huge swimming sieves we are so familiar with.

‘It’s a bit like discovering cows are as fast as wolves (when you’re not looking).’ 

 

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